Demvtr

The Reliable Source blurb said that "Williams will yak up the city's restaurant scene ...." I'm curious what restaurants Williams will reference. Anyone have any idea what his favorite restaurants are?

DCist has posted their Restaurant Week round-up, and the comments to the post are interesting. Is it possible that Old Ebbitt Grill really only had one option per course? That seems unlikely. TenPenh also got panned (and, from the description of the experience, justifiably so). DC Coast and Dino received raves.

I've tried it, though it was over a year ago. I distinctly remember loving the "Delhi Pista Korma," which is curry chicken in green pistachio cream sauce. It was outstanding. I, too, remember it being packed, and I suspect it is always like that in light of its proximity to the Clarendon Metro stop and the small seating capacity.

The List erroneously lists Rustico as opening in Arlington.

I have reservations for Grapeseed on 1/23/06 and David Craig Bethesda on 1/26/06. Has anyone heard anything about, or dined at, David Craig Bethesda?

I'm trying out Poste tonight. Anyone been there during this RW and have an idea of what their RW menu consists of?

I'm going to be trying out Foti's the Saturday prior to Valentine's Day. I know that after the initial positive reviews there have been some complaints, but I want to give it a shot. Staying overnight in a local B&B, so maybe we'll check out the local food stores that were written up in the Post recently.

I'm still feeling residually hip for having been at IndeBleu last night. That's assuming that hipness is infectious, as all of the employees, and many of the patrons, of IndeBleu were carriers, while I was uninfected until I walked in. This is not, by the way, a criticism. In fact, I note the "cool" factor of IndeBleu to tie it into the fact that unlike some other restaurants (ahem), IndeBleu does not sacrifice food for atmosphere. We were greeted by a host unironically wearing a t-shirt under his suit jacket. I had a moment of silent satisfaction when I realized that I recognized the electronica song thumping through the bar, until I realized that everyone else knew the song, too, because it was Moby. I ordered my date a blackberry mojito at the bar, paid the equivalent of a new CD for it, and waited for our friends to show up. Once they did, we were immediately seated. The hostess that led us upstairs was French; our server was British. One of my dining companions asked for the same drink that my date had carried upstairs with her, the aforementioned blackberry mojito. The waitress explained that, due to an earlier private party, the restaurant was out of rum. This was inexplicable in light of my date's 10-minute-old drink, but my friend moved on and ordered champagne instead. The flatbread that starts the meal is outstanding. Mini-naan is the best term for it, and it has just the right measure of melted butter and garlic on it. The bread is delivered by a roaming staff member with a pair of tongs. All four of us did the Restaurant Week menu. We tried all three appetizers. The bleu cheese mushroom dosa was the least-well-received. The dosa lacked the expected crispness, and the cheese was barely to be found. The mushrooms were, however, warm and pleasantly subtly flavored. The salad (shaved vegetables, orange lemongrass dressing, and spiced cashews) was competent, but neither the contents nor the dressing clearly traced their roots to India or France, at least not by taste. The spiced cashews were spicier than expected, which was a pleasant surprise. As an aside, my salad arrived devoid of the cashews, and I had to mention to a runner that my salad lacked the promised nuts. She was more than gracious in promptly retrieving a small side of said cashews. On that same trip, she also brought one of my dining companions the correct appetizer, the duck samosa, as they had erroneously brought him the mushroom dosa at first. But this was no big deal, and it was a nice gesture for the server to go ahead and leave the extra appetizer on the table for us to split. I did not try the duck samosa, but my dining companion said that he thought it was the best part of his meal. Two of us ordered the vegetarian entree, which consisted of two hockey-puck size circles of fried, shaped green plantains. They had a wonderfully complex, slightly spicy flavor, a crunchy exterior, and a soft interior. The braised vegetables on which the plantains were perched were fine, but nothing special. The chicken confit dish consisted of a small chicken leg (presented vertically), a sausage, and a stew of white beans. The only person that got that dish said his preference, in descending order, was the sausage, the beans, and the chicken. He had no complaints, but he also did not find it memorable. I had the ginger-glazed salmon filet, which was just big enough that one could not complain about its size, but small enough that it did not threaten dessert. I have nothing but good things to say about the dish. The sauce was rich but not overpowering, and did not obscure the perfectly roasted salmon, which fell apart under my fork. The accompanying tomato-onion mash was spicy and reminded me of my favorite Indian dish, baingan bharta, which adds eggplant to the mash. The desserts were uneven. The rosewater panna cotta was a flan with an understated flower flavor. The serving was barely bigger than a thimble. Really. It tasted fine, but it's not caviar. They should bump the serving to the size of, say, a ping-pong ball. The accompanying mango ice cream was amazing, but, again, the serving size was incredibly tiny. Melted, the ice cream would have filled half of a shot glass. Maybe. The mango foam was, as noted in another post, mango foam. One of us chose the chocolate mint ice cream with cardamom hot fudge sauce and peppermint bark. Now, I used to work at Baskin-Robbins back in high school, and I can tell you that I could not stand mint chocolate chip ice cream (though it scoops well). IndeBleu's chocolate mint ice cream, though, is an ice cream connoisseur's dream. The ice cream is a smooth white, the chocolate has a rich, medium flavor, and the mint only hints, as opposed to searing your mouth like Scope. The fudge and the peppermint bark were nice complements, though neither were integral to the dish. We left thinking that IndeBleu struck a perfect balance between good ambience and good cooking. And that may have been Moby I heard on my way out.

I had a really nice date at Dupont Grille a few months ago. My date worked a few blocks away, and we just sort of walked in. It's classy but hip inside, and the food was really appealing. The menu mixes classics with nouveau dishes. I had a super-inventive dish (an eggplant napoleon with lentils and other goodies) that I may have to go back for at some time in the future. I didn't try their desserts, though. My suggestion would be to walk over to Afterwords Cafe and get dessert over there.

Four of us went to Zengo last night. We were less than impressed. It wasn't awful. But I could not, in good conscience, send anyone else there, at least not for Restaurant Week. We ordered all three appetizers: rock shrimp ceviche, chicken arepas, and calamari with eggplant. I neither tried nor asked about the calamari, so I can't comment on that. The rock shrimp ceviche was probably the best part of the meal. I'm generally ambivalent about shrimp, but I thought this dish had good texture, a zingy, citrusy flavor, and was an adequate appetizer portion. Thumbs up. The chicken arepas, however, were a disappointment. The pulled chicken was tough, chewy, and room temperature, and the corn arepas were so tough that I LITERALLY could not cut through one of them with my knife. A shame, as the menu description made them sound so good. We tried two of the three entrees. The "rice stick noodles with chicken" was, essentially, a big portion of pad thai. I tried a few bites of my date's dish, and I thought it was fine, but somewhat boring and underflavored. I've enjoyed frozen entrees more than Zengo's rice stick noodles. I got the red snapper, which had potential (despite being no bigger than a deck of cards), but it proved overcooked and dry. The overcooking might have been forgivable had the advertised scallion-curry broth moistened the dish, but it proved to be nothing more than a ring of (albeit appealing spicy) sauce around the edge of the dish. The rice, which is labeled "chile pasilla steamed rice," appeared to be "dirty rice," and did not provide the flavor that such a vivid description promised. The churros with chocolate dipping sauce were very, very good, but do not expect the foot-long churros you've seen at some restaurants. The dish contains four mini-churros, each no bigger than a pinky finger, and a shot glass full of chocolate. Each of my dining companions ended up with 1/2 to 3/4 of their chocolate sauce left, and though they joked about shooting the rest, none actually did. I had the coconut tapioca with tropical fruit and blood orange sorbet, which turned out to be a half-mug serving of a fruit-flavored smoothie with a small scoop of sorbet in it. It came with a small shortbread cookie that was nothing special. I actually liked the dessert, though the portion was fairly small. In light of the fact that I'm having four three-course meals this week, I'm actually somewhat glad that this meal did not leave me feeling full, but that appreciation doesn't go far in light of the meal's mediocrity.

If you're asking whether the shrimp was fried, grilled, skewered, etc., I don't know the answer. Sorry! I do not think it was fried, as it was not battered. The server indicated that the shrimp was the same that normally comes with the fried green tomatoes appetizer on the regular menu. The shrimp was doused in a pinkish-red remoulade sauce; it looked like there were two to four shrimp stacked in a mound, with the deviled egg set apart, but on the same plate. Separately, has anyone done Zengo for dinner yet? I'll be there tonight, and I'm having a hard time deciding on what to order off their RW menu.

I had an outstanding meal at Acadiana last night. Their RW dinner menu consists of three appetizers, ALL of their entrees, and three desserts. The three appetizers are: - Shrimp covered in remoulade sauce served with a deviled egg - A mixed-greens salad with goat cheese and a maple dressing - Gumbo Regarding the entrees, the only upcharge is $7.00 extra for the beef tenderloin. The three desserts are: - Praline creme brulee (a much bigger serving than normal brulee dishes) - Chocolate bread pudding (not the one on the regular menu) with vanilla ice cream and chunks of fried banana - A root beer float (akin to the float on the regular menu, but slightly different) I don't have time to give an extensive review, but the salad was very good, the shrimp appetizer seemed well-received, and the entrees we ordered (crabcakes, red snapper [x2], and redfish) were universally praised. I can vouch for the red snapper, which seems to be crusted with crushed almonds, and is smothered with brown butter sauce. It comes with a side of corn pudding that made the dish perfect. Two of us got the creme brulee, which was fantastic, and two got the bread pudding. I did not try the bread pudding, but my dining companions had no complaints.

I've never been to Seasons, but I did CRT during the spring RW last year, and I was very impressed with the food and the service.

I'm going to Acadiana tonight. This will be my first trip there. (And I'm meeting my girlfriend's parents for the first time, to boot!) Anyone know what their RW menu will be? I remember TenPenh last year offering much of its menu, but not every item. Also, Acadiana's web site seems to have undergone a rebirth overnight.

I work a few blocks from the Majestic Cafe, but don't get to go there as often as I'd like because my office mates claim that its menu is "limited." But I did end up there for dinner on my birthday last month, and it was the first time I'd been there since Susan left the kitchen. The meal was outstanding. The breads comprising the bread basket were, as usual, better described than eaten; the biscuits were unnecessarily dry, the corn bread was neither the cake-like texture preferred by some or the classic, drier texture preferred by others, and the French bread was bland. But that was the beginning and the end of the disappointments. I split an entree and three sides with my dinner companion. The entree was the inventive, unique, and ultra-satisfying "Napoleon of Spicy Creamed Mushrooms with glazed pearl onions, carrots and spinach." The layers of mushrooms and other goodies were divided by wafer-thin, crisp dough, and the glazed vegetables were slightly sweet, but not cloying. As an aside, I should note that the Majestic Cafe has a history of coming up with well-thought-out and well-executed vegetarian entrees that go far beyond the practice of some restaurants of just throwing together a few side dishes or boiling a little pasta. This is true on both the Majestic Cafe's dinner and lunch menu; the current vegetarian lunch entree of black-eyed pea cakes is like a Southern version of falafel, and I mean that in a very positive sense. Getting back to my birthday dinner last month: The baked sweet potato is a side that I order automatically; it's always perfectly baked until it is so soft that it is falling apart, and the hazelnut butter it comes with could be a (heart-stopping) dessert on its own. The broccoli spears with garlic sound so simple as to be boring, but they were amazing; seared brown and cooked with a lot of garlic and (I suspect) a lot of butter, they were out of this world. Finally, the "maple-glazed spaghetti squash" tasted even better than its description, and led me to conclude that I will have to seek out spaghetti squash on other local menus. We enjoyed the meal so much that there was no way we had room for birthday cake. But I have zero regrets.

I second the motion for dinner at the Majestic Cafe, and would add Oyamel, Vermilion (one "l," folks), Harry's Tap Room, and Ardeo to the list of possibilities.

I had dinner at New Heights back in April, which may not qualify as "lately," unless no one else can remember a more timely meal there! If you've not been there, ask for a table overlooking the street (and therefore the Rock Creek Parkway, too). The interior is classy, though I can't quite place what the atmosphere is meant to feel like; on one hand, it's not as formal or intentionally posh as, say, Palette or Vidalia, but it's also not meant to be urban and hip, e.g., Tabaq Bistro or Viridian. It's like a neighborhood restaurant gone upscale. Anyway, we had the black bean "pate" as an appetizer, and I found it less than thrilling. It was unpleasantly thick, and was somewhat bland. The entree, however, was possibly the best entree I had last year. It was grilled salmon wrapped in phyllo dough surrounded by roasted fingerling potatoes and roasted carrots. The latter accompaniments were perfect in terms of texture and flavor, but the salmon was out of this world. It fell apart under my knife, and the phyllo surrounding it was appropriately flaky, warm, and not too sweet. I have no idea whether that dish is on New Heights' current menu (or, even if it is, whether it would be on the RW menu), but I think the inventiveness of the dish speaks well for the restaurant's cooking on the whole.

I endorse this idea. It should become a separate, permanent thread. The only concern is that canceling a reservation on OpenTable with the intent that another DR member immediately pick it up does not, in fact, guarantee that the intent will become reality. I think the answer is that the reservation should remain in the name of the person who originally made it, and the reservation-maker simply has to rely on the reservation-taker to actually show up and not trigger an OT e-mail scold.

I think that if your friend is setting foot in a taxi by no later than 5 p.m., he can be in D.C. for a 6 p.m. dinner reservation, be done by 7:30 p.m. or so, and back at Dulles by 8:40 p.m. That said, if flight delays mess up the timing of a D.C. trip, I strongly endorse the 2941 suggestion. Or your friend could head the other direction, and check out one of the restaurants in Leesburg. I haven't been to Lightfoot Restaurant before, but it's reputable, and while I haven't been to Tuscarora Mill in a couple of years, I remember liking it. Sweetwater Tavern in Sterling or Centreville works, too, as suggested elsewhere.

I'm doing the prix fixe dinner at Vegetate. I think the 6 p.m. seating is filled, but I bet the 9 p.m. seating still has room. This is the site, Vegetate, and this is the menu: New Year's Eve Dinner at Vegetate We are offering a four course dinner with vegetarian and vegan options. Seatings are 6pm and 9pm, and the cost is $45 per person. Call 202-232-4585 to make reservations. The New Year's Eve menu is also available in our private dining room, which seats up to 14 people. New Year's Eve Menu AMUSE Chickpea Flan with roasted Jerusalem artichokes and a spicy basil puree (vegan) SECOND Salad of Grilled Radiccio and a winter root vegetable s'formata (vegan) or Truffled Petite White Bean Soup with herb oil and confetti (vegan) THIRD Goat Cheese Stuffed Potato Rosti with roasted shallots and a fricassee of wild mushrooms in a mushroom jus or Braised Tofu Tower with crispy seaweed, escarole and fresh soft noodles in a carrot-miso broth (vegan) or Baked Penne with caramelized onions, braised leeks and fennel confit with an herbed cream sauce and arugula (vegan) DESSERT Cornmeal Pineapple Upside Down Cake with a cherry coulis and pineapple chip or Banana Two Ways, Cinammon crusted and brulee baby red bananas with a chipotle-chocolate dipping sauce (vegan)

$330.66 not including drinks, tax, and tip. You should seek a sponsorship from OpenTable to offset the expense!

Schedule: Acadiana on 1/10/06 Indebleu on 1/12/06 Zengo on 1/13/06 Poste on 1/14/06

The Restaurant Week website does not have the January dates up yet, but I came across a site that states that the dates will be 1/9/06 - 1/15/06: Does anyone know whether this information is accurate?

My date and I had a late-night (10:30 p.m.) dinner at Viridian last night after catching a play at Studio Theatre. Viridian's interior is deliberately minimal, and I concur with an observation that I read elsewhere that walking into Viridian feels like walking into a hip restaurant in New York City. The floors are concrete, the tables a uniform blackish wood, the walls starkly white and covered with oversize photograph portraits in both color and black and white. It is like dining in an art gallery that used to be a factory. The servers' uniforms, blue jeans and a simple brown button-up shirt, offer the only color in the room. Our server was nothing but pleasant and helpful, and she knew the menu back and forth. This was useful insofar as the menu is one that is likely to raise a question or two from even the most experienced and eclectic diner. If the bread is made without eggs or dairy products, as some items of the menu are intentionally prepared, I could not tell. It is better than at most restaurants; the crust was somehow both crunchy and chewy, and the bread itself was soft and warm. The spreads were not evenly matched. The white-bean spread was akin to a very bland hummus, though it becomes twice as good with a few shakes of pepper. The caramelized onion-spread is an absolute winner and should become a Viridian hallmark. The menu is structured simply. A list of eight or ten appetizers, four to six entrees, and six to eight side dishes. It is up to the diner to construct a meal to his or her liking. The server explained to my date what "kohlrabi" is (apparently, it is a vegetable with a pear-like flavor and texture), and her description led my date to order the kohlrabi salad as a beginning dish. It was a small salad presented in a plain white bowl, and my date and I agreed that the kohlrabi had a pleasantly sweet taste with a pear- or apple-like texture. I understood the menu's description of the beets and horseradish salad, but I was so surprised by the notion that beets and horseradish, which are conventionally viewed as bitter and slightly off-putting, could constitute an appealing salad that I had to ask the waitress her thoughts on the dish. Based on her endorsement of the salad, I ordered it, and I must say that while I would order the kohlrabi salad next time, I do not regret trying the beets and horseradish salad. The horseradish is julienned and sprinkled on top of red and orange beets, with just enough sherry vinaigrette to coat the ingredients, but not so much that any accumulates in the bottom of the plate. The horseradish was, as expected, hot and sharp, while the red beets were slightly bitter, with a not-too-crisp texture. It was the orange beets, however, that were soft and sweet enough to justify the existence of the dish and saved the salad from being gratuitously ascetic. I ordered the salmon trout (a species of salmon that I had never tried before) and my date ordered the spaghetti squash tart with nut cheese entree. The salmon trout was presented as a long, rectangular cut of fish, and one taste told me that it had been perfectly roasted. Removing the layer of scales and skin uncovered a bright, pinkish-orange fillet that was moist and flavorful without need of any sauces or spices. The clutch of diced olives were an unnecessary addition to the plate, and the minimal serving of sauteed spinach hidden beneath the fillet would have been appreciated but for the fact that it was startlingly salty, such that I have no choice but to believe that the chef simply made a mistake with that particular batch of sauteed spinach. I refuse to think that any trained chef would ever consider such sodium-infested greens appealing to an even small percentage of diners. My date's spaghetti squash tart was inventive in concept and should appeal to both vegetarians and meat-eaters. The nut cheese is, as it sounds, a non-dairy "cheese" made of nuts, and is an understated aspect of the dish. I had only a few bites of the tart, but it had the texture one would expect of any such pastry shell, and the spaghetti squash, an uncommon menu item, was properly prepared and flavorful. I should note that I do not know if the tart shell is vegan. The side dishes we ordered deserve to be menu staples. I had the quinoa and pomegranate, which is served in the same elegant white bowl as the kohlrabi salad. The quinoa was several steps above an authentic South American preparation of the grain in terms of flavor, and the combination of pomegranate seeds added a slightly sweet note and crunchy texture that both of us considered a small triumph by the kitchen. Our side of thyme mushrooms was a sharp contrast to the quinoa in terms of flavor and texture, but was the quinoa's equal as measured by enjoyment. The sauteed mushrooms varied in size, type, and flavor, but were all warm, earthy, and not too strongly flavored. We decided to forgo dessert, as we were happily filled by the time we put our entree forks down. The kitchen, however, would not let us surrender just yet, and sent out a complimentary cup of fruit salad that was, without exaggeration, the best fruit salad I have ever tasted. My date agreed. The salad, consisting of chopped apple, grapes, kumquats, and possibly one or two more fruits, was warm, powerfully (but not overwhelmingly) sweet, and left me scraping the bottom of the bowl to get the last drop of fruit juice. Viridian is off to a strong start. Its attractive interior, refined atmosphere, relatively affordable prices, and simple yet inventive menu, combined with a kitchen that gets far more right than wrong, leads me to believe that 14th Street NW has a new dining magnet.

I had dinner at Temel last week, and I thought it was perfectly fine, if not exceptional, Mediterranean/Turkish food (www.temelrestaurant.com). That said, when I have to go to court in Fairfax, I always try and get lunch at Cattleya, a Thai place right on 123 in the heart of Fairfax City (www.cattleyathairestaurant.com).