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TedE

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Everything posted by TedE

  1. TedE
    On your first point: $90K median income in a tract that includes at least one (maybe two, I think) public housing blocks? There are some folks with serious money buying those $1M+ rehabbed town homes (dual Big Law, etc.). Very few people with $90K HHI will go here. But the audience is there, they don't have to live in McLean or Chevy Chase. On your second point: We agree! This is what I have been trying to say. There is a surprising number of people I've run across who consider themselves "foodies" who know very little about food or cooking beyond whatever trends they encounter on the plates of the latest hot spots, or read in the NYT Style section. And many of them have money. Lots and lots of money. That proportion of the foodie world that you lament dwarfs the knowledgeable base you have built here? This place is for them. High end dining has become big game hunting for social capital in some circles, and the trophies are Instagram-ready small plates. A high priced barrier for entry only sweetens the chase. I could be entirely wrong about all of this (that is going to be the fun part, watching how this develops), and I have zero interest in ever dining here, but I can't help being drawn to the reasons behind its existence, and whether or not they read the market correctly.
  2. TedE
    Don, you honestly don't believe this, do you?!? This town does not want for high (and *very* high) income earners, that's for sure, and they certainly eat out a lot What is it, 4 or 5 of the top HHI zip codes in the US are close-in suburbs? Hell, the HHI of the top 10-15% of households in the Shaw census tract is likely way more than you think (median HHI is $90K, just looked that up. It surprised me!). People who come into DC for a high-end meal will go wherever their Uber will drop them off these days. "Tourists" won't come here, but "foodie tourists" (gack) certainly might. I see places like Shaw Bijou akin to clubs that offer bottle service. You aren't getting your money's worth, but that is beyond the point.
  3. TedE
    But there is a target audience for whom the price difference *is* trivial, and in this town that target audience is not insignificant. You don't need to capture all of them, just give some of them a reason to darken your door once in a while. I stand by my notion that at this price point the actual quality of the food becomes less and less of the story.
  4. TedE
    Well, that's exactly what I was getting at . The dining world has succumbed to Twitter/Yelp/whatever, and there is no turning back from an audience that expects instant judgment. I would have to dig back ten or so years in the archives, but I'm almost certain he defended giving new places some breathing room in the past. Then the reach of online reviews became harder and harder to ignore (including this here website), and he amended that to "If they are charging full price they should be ready for a review" in order to justify earlier and earlier visits. A review on opening night still took me aback.
  5. TedE
    Variety. The "experience". Seriously, and I can be a cynical bastard, but I'm more and more convinced that the trend in multi-course tasting menus has become less and less about the food on the plate and more about the "journey" or whatever the term du jour is. From what I can gather the wandering dinner aspect of Shaw Bijou is unique to DC. There you go. If you won't bat an eye at a $300 for two for dinner at P&P, etc., what's $500? $600?
  6. TedE
    About what I was expecting. Pretty good scores on food overall, but the pricing will be a sword of Damocles hanging over every review. And maybe the real news here is that Tom must have gone on either opening night (!) or the night after to file this for Friday. He *never* would have done that even 5 years ago, even for a First Bite column, even for a place with this much buzz/controversy, and would have defended the decision to give a new place at least a couple of weeks before writing about it. My how the times have changed.
  7. TedE
    I tried for a single walk-in at Husk a couple of years ago and they didn't have anything, so they directed me to the bar. The menu is very limited, there was a burger and some small plates if I recall. I ended up just getting a drink and a snack and walking elsewhere for dinner (I think I ended up at FIG that night, no issue sitting at the bar with a full menu)
  8. TedE
    Given how much of a hit it was I would like to do a smoked turkey again, but a traditional roast bird would fit the bill as well. I'm not necessarily averse to doing mail order for this, but all things being equal I'd like to do something cooked locally. Keep 'em coming!
  9. TedE
    Last year, due to varied and unrelated circumstances, we got our T-Day bird from DCity Smokehouse instead of my "celebrated" 3-day purchasing/brining/air-drying/cooking routine. It was f$%*ing delicious, and my wife has stated how less stressful the whole day was, including the full availability of our oven for other cooking duties. Needless to say it has been recommended we do it again. With the impending opening of their new storefront DCity has no idea if they will offer turkeys again this year (and with the departure of the pit master earlier this year I actually don't know if we'd go with them again). Who has had success with other pre-cooked turkeys in the DC area? Ideally we'd like to pick up Thursday morning. I have one recommendation for Wagshal's, and having worked across the street from the Greek Deli on 19th St I know they offer holiday meals. Any other suggestions?
  10. TedE
    I'll be watching through my fingers (transferred all of our seats to season ticket partners, for reasons other than wanting to actually be at the game)! But, seriously, it's great to be in the position to experience that kind of sports anxiety. Better than absentmindedly checking scores for other teams the morning after the games are played.
  11. TedE
    Creeping dread. Impending doom. I can't watch.
  12. TedE
    The Nats have to feel good coming away with a split this weekend. The next two games should at least be interesting! Gio with success recently against L.A., but he's the same Gio who hasn't showed up strong for the playoffs in the past. Game 4 might be the battle of the also-ran starters and a race to see who can get the most out of their bullpens! Or if Washington takes the game today, do we get Kershaw tomorrow? Lots of drama for Dodgers fans on short rest and his woeful history in important playoff situations.
  13. TedE
    They all but limped to the NL East title, but here we are. NLDS time! - Trea Turner needs to keep playing like Bryce Harper 2015 - Bruce Harper 2016 needs to start playing like ... well, something. Even a well-timed extra base hit here or there. It looked like he was coming around the last couple of weeks before the thumb thing, but I think in the first 9 at bats after that he had 8 Ks. Pitchers have stopped fearing him. - Catcher platoon! Severino looks like the real deal, and they need that badly. I think the only game we are guaranteed to see Lobaton is anything Gio pitches (I haven't followed if other starters on the staff have personal preferences absent Ramos). Scherzer will call his own game on Friday. - Game 1! Scherzer! Kershaw! You really hate to think that is a must win, but they might see Kershaw again as early as Game 4, and at home he is on a completely different level. Much rather see him again on as short rest as possible. - The bullpen. On paper they are fine, but then again we've been there before. It feels like PTGD (post-traumatic game disorder) - 4th starter. Ross + the afore-mentioned bullpen. Need quality starts from 1-3 so they aren't burned out by that point. - Murphy is a question mark right now. He needs to be an exclamation point. Go watch some baseball! Weather is going to be great.
  14. TedE
    I walked over here for lunch today in the first ramen-worthy weather we've had since they opened. Had the shoyu, unadorned, and thought it was a match for any of the other noodle shops in DC I've tried (I'm partial to Daikaya anyway, so this wasn't any surprise). Look forward to going back and trying some of their other bowls, especially the miso. It's dangerous to have good ramen like this in easy strolling distance of our house.
  15. TedE
    They sell a range of high-end liquor. You're not going to find much in the way of small batch producers, but I've seen some very good bourbon at decent prices. There is even a locked display case where you could drop a few hundred on single malt or even a couple thousand on a bottle of cognac (not kidding, they usually have Remy Martin Louis XIII in stock). And they do sell Tito's along with many other name brand staples. Can't remember if I've seen St Germain. The liqueur selection tends to be thinner than the higher proof stuff. That being said I have never been disappointed with the Kirkland brands for regular cocktail use; all of the "premium" bottles are private-labeled at a serious discount, though it's hard to find out exactly what you are getting (if the vodka = Grey Goose, bourbon = Buffalo Trace, gin = Tanqueray, etc.). There are people that try to track those things, but Costco does a good job of hiding the source, for obvious reasons.
  16. TedE
    When I read this and tried to figure out how that would even work, I thought maybe they are planning on serving flights of small tastes from very expensive bottles, but "spoons" is an odd choice of serving medium. And now all I can think of is people trying to take their $20 sips of grand cru out of these and spilling it down the front of their shirts!
  17. TedE
    The lines for Cantillon, CBS et al. will be half an hour long or more shortly after the gates open. If you try for more than one of those you are basically paying $30 for the privilege of those tastes! But some of them will be sold out shortly after the main session begins, so it's a matter of priority.
  18. TedE
    (Link for thread on last year's event) We'll be there again for the VIP session starting in the morning, and stay until the crowds get unmanageable. The list seems to be shaping up later than previous years, but some genuinely new-to-DC stuff to be had again (Jester King and Wicked Weed come to mind). As always, there will be more that I want to taste than is physically possible or financially prudent.
  19. TedE
    No ligament damage. But you can't help but feel that he's not going to be fully ready for the playoffs, and the struggles from the past month aren't random. My guess is that they have him throw several simulated games in the interim. The way the playoff race is shaping up, the only thing the Nats really are playing for is home field for NLDS. He may be 3rd starter in the playoffs. If he struggles there he might be done for the year.
  20. TedE
    That is the most insane things about modern sports: the market. Some owner with literally billions of dollars in the bank, earning money hand over fist despite the payroll due to broadcast rights alone, playing in a stadium that is probably paid for by the city they fleeced will sit back and say, "Well, if we don't pay him that, somebody else will!". You are right that pitchers are seldom worth the full amount of their contract, but the bar has been set, there is no going back! This is what it now takes to get maybe 3-4 prime years out of a player. Teams know they are essentially throwing away tens of millions of dollars for good service years they will never see out of this player. It's also why I think we'll see more of these contracts with generous opt outs. If MLB contracts were all single year, and the off-season was one huge bidding war, I have no doubt that we would see, today, a pitcher earning $70-80M.
  21. TedE
    You're telling me! Pre-All Star: 12-0 2.62 ERA .201 AVG 1.01 WHIP Post-All Star 3-4 6.15 ERA .259 AVG 1.34 WHIP "OK, OK", you say, "He had a couple of rough outings, ERA suffered, but he didn't fall off of a cliff or anything." Then you notice his recent stint to the DL and look at: Last 30 Days 0-2 (no decision in his 3rd start in that time, but only 9.1 innings pitched total in those 3 games) 15.43 ERA .391 AVG (he's not just having control issues and walking a bunch of guys) 2.46 WHIP "Crap." This is where the contract comes to bite the Nats in the ass and the naysayers get to bray about the gamble. It may just be he's not durable enough to be a full season starter at this level. Bad luck is one thing, patterns are something else. We'll have to wait and see on the prognosis.
  22. TedE
    Ruh roh. It's one thing when you have a playoff rotation of 3 proven guys and "some guy who you hope has a good day on the mound" depending on the match-up. That could be all you need to get through to the Series. 2 proven guys and a mishmash of rookies, a veteran having a bad year and young guy just off the DL? Yikes.
  23. TedE
    Just a note: this place is 8th and Florida Ave NW, nowhere near Gallaudet (right next to Howard U., though). I've been meaning to check out the space because the roof deck looks nice and they have a pretty varied beer selection. Good to know the food is more than an afterthought, lots of new places to check out in this little corner of "North Shaw" or whatever the current condo marketing designation of choice is ....
  24. TedE
    Solid B+ on the snark, Don. I know nothing of them: is/was Duckhorn any good? Can I make any unfounded extrapolations based on this data point?
  25. TedE
    Don, this is a pretty cynical view of the industry. In my experience craft brewers get into the business because they love beer and are actually passionate about the product they create. Most if not all of them were home brewers who caught the bug. This isn't Silicon Valley where everybody's raison d'être is to develop some niche market app for the sole purpose of selling to the highest bidder once they've gained enough market share. Are there brewers that have "sold out"? Sure, just like in every industry. There are three choices: 1) Work to expand production while maintaining independence, keep innovation going in a small scale while letting your flagship beers bring in the necessary capital and market like hell to differentiate (call this the Dogfish Model) 2) Find yourself in a situation where you have a product whose demand outstrips your ability to keep up or expand, or you just don't want to invest the capital for whatever reason. Risk stagnation and brand dilution, or outsource your best sellers to free up in-house production for smaller volume beers you want to continue growing (the Flying Dog/FX Matt Model, or on a larger scale Goose Island) 3) Say "Fuck it, I'm out!" and cash the biggest paycheck you can negotiate, or hand over the brand to a conglomerate in return for creative control. This seems to be the model under the most scrutiny in this thread, but I actually think it's the least common of the three in the U.S, and much more common maybe back in the 90s/early 00s when selling out was the only proven option for nationwide distribution. Now you have Dogfish/Lagunitas/Green Flash/Flying Dog/Deschutes/et al. They have shown that the tide has turned on the Big 3 (well, Big International Two at this point) and they can't use sheer force of distribution rights to bully smaller brewers. Interestingly, I find the beers that this accusation is lobbed at were originally the least notable. You had to come up with something really special to draw the attention of InBev, and that something really special is usually a relatively bland beer with enough "craft"-y mass appeal that moved a ton of product and had a marketable story behind it. I think the space has grown beyond that market pressure, though. There is just SO much out there to choose from. This thread has reminded me that I've become way to insular in my beer purchases recently (hell, I'm in a rut). Off to go research some beers I remember from 20+ years ago and see what is still operating as an independent concern!
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