RJ Cooper

It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get fro my house in McLean to WTF where my gym is today. Going to Reston I wouldn't have hair left, or a new Harley!!

GypsySoul is in the process of construction, opening when the summer winds blow.

It is to bad that your judging our craft and what our experience is by a debate. We take great pride in what we do and the experience we give.

Constructive criticism is much more acceptable when adjatives of meh are not used. Give feedback with respect and dignity. All we want to do is give our guests the best possible experience and with proper feedback we can learn from it makes the experience we give better.

"Rogue 24 exceeded all expectations! I went for my wife's birthday. It was an amazing experience! The decor, the attention to detail, and the staff were impeccable! They even called before our reservation to research my food restrictions. They catered my half of the menu around my very strict diet, and made my experience just as memorable as my wife's. Thank you for making our night so perfect!"

What other degustation formats do this?

I made a terrible mistake on the pricing of this dinner. It is actually $100.00 per person without tax and gratuity.

Chef RJ Cooper and the team of Rogue 24 invite you to our inaugural vintners dinner. We welcome one of the teams favorite winemakers, German-born Matthias Pippig. He is the vinegrower, winemaker, and creator of the labels of Sanguis Wines from Santa Barbera, California. Prior to loosing his head completely and deciding to make wine, he was EVP of sales, marketing and business development for the country's leading artisan bread maker, La Brea Bakery and was previously involved with Campanile, and several other Los Angeles-based restaurants, as well as West Coast importer of the Marc DeGrazia Selections, Estate Wines Ltd. Matthias remains active in the food manufacturing world, helping companies develop and market new food products.

Wines that are singular, compelling and beautiful rely on great vineyards and proper farming in union with a healthy dose of confidence, determination and style. Like great food, they can not exist without superior "raw materials", the land where those are grown, or with out a steady hand to shape them.

Please join us for this collaborative meal featuring craft and passion. $225.00 per person all-inclusive see post below! 
For reservations and ticket information please email gorogue@rogue24.com or 202.408.9724.

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Menu for the Evening

post card from morocco 2010     rogue 24 tapas style canapés spring 2014
loner chardonnay 2012               red king crab/ginger/chawanmushi
loner pinot noir 2011                   swordfish/olive components/sea grasses
mule 2011                                   hare/morels from the vineyards/huckleberries
levity 2009                                  japanese wagyu short rib/foraged roots/weeds
wines left in the bottles              chocolate & cheese compositions

Terrific 24-course "Journey" at Rogue 24 last night.  One of those meals where certain dishes just keep you thinking about them for a while afterwards.  All twenty-four dishes were not equally hits, but there were far more hits than not.

...

Service was excellent with no lapses in explaining some of the non-obvious dishes to us.  One of the highlights of the night for me was having a table feet from the kitchen.  R.J. was as engaging as he could be given that he was apparently down three cooks on a busy Saturday night.  I'm always impressed with the calm amidst the storm of a well-run restaurant kitchen.  Other than an occasional stern, "Let's go" from R.J., there was never any sign of stress from the kitchen (which is managing what I have to imagine is a very complicated ballet with a number of table working their way through 24-courses while others are doing 10-courses, all at different times).

...

Really enjoyed this meal.

Thank you from the R24 team. We worked hard last night making the experience the best we could. The highlight for me last evening was the kiss on the cheek from one of your dining companions.

Restaurant Week Gone Rogue!!!

Please join us for our semi annual Restaurant Week Gone Rogue!

We will be featuring two menus The Jaunt and the Journey.

Reservations can be made online at rogue24.com,http://www.opentable.com/rogue-24 or call 202.408.9724

Please limit dietary restrictions to allergies only, the culinary team will have vegetarian menus.

A credit card must be provided to make reservations and our cancelation policy will be in affect.

Dates: 
Tuesday January 14th through Sunday January 19th

The Jaunt: 
5 courses $64.14 tax and service charges not included

The Journey:
24 courses $114.14 tax and service charges not included

Beverage pairings will be available for an additional fee.

4x4 for 44:
Join Chef-Tender Bryan Tetorakis for 4 sips and 4 bites for $44.00 at our 4 stool beverage station. Sample mixes from classics to modern interpretations with 4 paired bites from the culinary team. Seating is limited and reservations are encouraged. Reservation can be made only by calling R24 at 202.408.9724.

Restaurant Week Gone Rogue!!!

Please join us for our semi annual Restaurant Week Gone Rogue!

We will be featuring two menus The Jaunt and the Journey.

Reservations can be made online at rogue24.com,http://www.opentable.com/rogue-24 or call 202.408.9724

Please limit dietary restrictions to allergies only, the culinary team will have vegetarian menus.

A credit card must be provided to make reservations and our cancelation policy will be in affect.

Dates: 
Tuesday January 14th through Sunday January 19th

The Jaunt: 
5 courses $64.14 tax and service charges not included

The Journey:
24 courses $114.14 tax and service charges not included

Beverage pairings will be available for an additional fee.

4x4 for 44:
Join Chef-Tender Bryan Tetorakis for 4 sips and 4 bites for $44.00 at our 4 stool beverage station. Sample mixes from classics to modern interpretations with 4 paired bites from the culinary team. Seating is limited and reservations are encouraged. Reservation can be made only by calling R24 at 202.408.9724.

At this point Brother its over beaten like a piallrde of veal. Its been cooked over cooked and time to let it go"¦..Later!

And always RESPECT THE CRAFT!

And thank you MDT we did change a system. Thats how we grange and grow with great communication from our guests! Why we don't read YELP!

I am a Widespread Panic freak. When I listen to their shows, some of the rhythms are off at some point  but I know they will always get it back on track.

All take my advice drop your pants and slide on the ice

RESPECT THE CRAFT!!! MEH. COMMUNICATE AND WE WILL BEND OVER BACKWARDS FOR OUR GUESTS. YEAH ROCKWELL ALL CAPS. AND IT SHOULD STAY THIS WAY. WE WANT TO GIVE AND MAKE GUESTS HAPPY. WE WANT TO LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES AND GROW. WE WANT TO STRIVE AND BE THE BEST.

IM sitting at a diner a vary popular well branded local Chain with two beautiful 7 year olds. Ava did not like her eggs she ordered them soft 2 eggs and sausage. They came out hard with 1 sausage. Oh and the pancakes didn't make it as well. However as a 7 year old she communicated and they fixed the problem. It's hospitality and we want to give it. From a 7 year old to anyone who walks in our door.

My only real bitch is the fact of no real fat to grasp on what we did with the food. I get the wine we changed that immediately after 2 plus years in business. Thanks MDT we will now look and change that language.

PEACE. THIS IS NOW DONE!

ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS.

RESPECT THE CRAFT.

Oh and by the way. Look up Mugaritz to see the bar of soup.

If you don't try and fail you won't succeed.

Defense of ones craft is not Nobel? We just want to learn from our mistakes. Honorably.

Knowing MDT for many years, as many of us have, his review gave me a lot of information about his opinion of his experience, which actually differed from mine. Reading the vitriol that has been spurred by his mixed description of his takeaways and what lingered in his mind after, on the other hand, has been truly enlightening. I hope to never take criticism as poorly as has been demonstrated here, as frankly it is almost scary.

Again we used his criticism as a tool and change a policy  the rest is opinion and ambiguous   meh?  why? what part? give me some depth of thought.

Never mind  you all enjoy have a fun weekend.

We relish criticism and learn from the good and the bad. Ambiguity is not a learning tool.

What a dispiriting thread this has turned into. I "liked" mdt's initial post, because I felt like he took the time to describe his experience of the meal. Was every course dissected? No, but enough description was given to understand his opinion and experience. Yes, there was a "meh" here, and a generic statement of opinion there, but all in all, I thought the quality of the post was on par with most of what else is written around these parts.

The level of vitriol being thrown his way due to this one post is ridiculous. Mr. Cooper, I appreciate the desire to have substantive critiques in order to improve, but really, if that's what you're looking for, the attitude you have displayed in this exchange is not the way to accomplish it. I imagine that had you prodded the poster with probing questions about specific aspects of his review that bothered you, (perhaps via a private message) you may have gotten the answers you wanted.

True however he initiated the "dialog" right of wrong. The idea of a critique is to give information. WIFE THOUGHT IT WAS OK. MEH ect is not information. It's ambiguous commentary. BIG DIFFERENCE.

Enough. Thanks all enjoy your turkeys.

Because MDT we my team at rogue want to better ourselves. We already changed out description policy with your comments. Maybe we could know what else so we can be what your expectations were.

I'd like to know, for consistency purposes and if I wasn't there what happened.

It's called knowledgable criticism. I am sure when you were in school and got a disparaging grade you wanted to know why? And okay and meh would not have been good enough.

Funny MDT

I only responded this way because the lack of information you provided.

Enjoy your life. I don't have friends on this board. I'll end it by saying eat well and enjoy life. Your comments are noted and valued however if you would provide real information it would help us.

In the future you may want to help instead of antagonize.

MR Rockwell. This will be the end. There will be more information provided to this site by rogue24 or gypsy soul.

MDT. Attack my character. Thanks.

Now what I'm hung up is on the fact you day you say you give criticism, did not know meh was that.

And you hide behind a screen name. Lovely debate. I have better things to do with my energy and time. Like make our guests feel comfortable and give them them beat we can. We have many and many on this board.

You can post that rogue 24 suck donkey shit because: but please give precise criticism not "ok" "meh". Or this price of bottle was x. I guarantee that your captain asked you thorough out your evening if everything was fine and you said yes. Because if you did not. We would be having a discussion about how we fixed the problem. Communicate on the spot and the problem would have been fixed.

How many refills did you have through out your progressive menu?

MDT,

I would encourage constrictive criticism as it helps us grow as crafts people. What you wrote was no better then the shit I find on yelp.

Thanks.

source: Chef Cooper's signature line here on dr.com

Not sure if anyone else would disagree but the wind has been pretty damn chilly these past two days. So wassup out Merrifield way?

We are hung up the bureaucracy call Fairfax County. We have a meeting scheduled for December 2nd to finalize and get our permits stamped.

Construction has begun. We will start the usual network pages for folks to follow.

Teaser: Southern Ground Modern Interpretations of Regional Cooking

I should probably let this go, but proved your point? I thought your point was that we amateur reviewers shouldn't be posting our (negative) reviews as we don't know what we are talking about. My original post/review was always an opinion as every post/review on this site is, positive or negative. Nobody on this site is getting paid to write anything on this site. When writing about food it's all opinion as taste is not a hard science and folks will have different views on what they are eating.

The only fact that I posted was about the cost of the wine pairing based on information received from your staff. The opinion was that I thought that part of the meal was rather expensive.

don you have stooped to an all time low"¦.thanks  remove me from a members only private site.

I would hope that you could respect the opinions of customers that choose to spend their hard earned money at your restaurant.

You finally hit the nail on the head!!!! Holly Shit!!!! It is a matter of opinion and we take the opinions and the comments from all of our guests with a great deal of respect and it has influenced and changed the restaurant over the course of the last 3 seasons.

Good job you proved my point.

Thanks.

We value all our guests, and again if your experience was not up to my standards (I don't know if I was there) then we would want to make up for that hard earned money you spent.

Are you really saying you'd like to debate whether only "professional" food critics  should be allowed to post here? 

Of course I did not! What I said there is a line that has been crossed and crossed numerous times in many blogs and sites that people should have an opinion whether good or bad, but should not look to be a critic. Help us get better, leave the other shit to the critics.

I would never invite TS or TK gratis after the wrote about Rogue (if you remember TK didn't enjoy us) however the general public whom spend their hard earned dollars, I would invite in because they deserve to pay for their expectations. And when we don't live up to those expectations we want to provide for the guests.

You all are members of a dining wed site, which I respect vary much, and members should express their thoughts, however, when you start nickeling and dimming a restaurant for selling their goods at X or Y price what is the point? I can go to random restaurant and buy a bottle of wine (you choose) and go on line and find the price to be 60 to 70% cheaper then what it is sold for at random restaurant.

Is that criticism, no, if you know the business like you all say you do, you know restaurant Y buys wines by the glass bottles for x price and the price is usually the cost of bottle for the glass. Its a business not a club.

I've never seen complaints about reviewers being amateurs when they praise the restaurant.

You are right and you are wrong. Look at it in this way: Is it criticism if there is no depth of explanation then "it was okay", "meh" how can we know what we did wrong with no true explanation of the critique? It turns into opinion.  Im no lawyer but if you went into litigation with no explanation of though but Okay or Meh you would not win.

I am not upset with the fact that we did not live up to the expectations of the food, I am because of the perceived value was analyzed by random web retail stores. . Big Difference!!!!

Example: I was in San Diego all week at their annual Food & Wine event. Stayed at a fantastic hotel that was vary generous to all the participants: I had poached eggs with smoked salmon and mixed salad for breakfast everyday. Retail menu price of $22.00"¦..Okay I get it  an egg is $.24 each good salmon $12.95 per lb and salad greens are on the high side 9 bucks a pound"¦"¦okay so  50 cents for the eggs, $2.50 for the salmon maybe 2.50 for the greens, another 20 cents for the vinaigrette"¦"¦total of $5.70  menu price was $22.00  Food Cost of 25.9%"¦okay now take another 30% for labor cost another 25% for operating cost and 10% for miscellaneous. Now you can start to understand prices of restaurants and this was a hotel with room rates over 300 per night. Was there value in the 22.00 egg and salmon dish? Or was it understood that the total package is the value?

I will not make another comment about this again. But I will again say my off still stands.

Really Don of course. If I were to do research on whatever service he provides and marks up, he would be as well offended as well"¦"¦I do you one better Don, take it down, If members are to post opinions, then mine should stand as well.

And to be honest, he was talking value, and value that we did not give? Well then please by all means if you spent your hard earned money at Rogue and didn't get the value that was expected please let us make up for that.

I don't know MDT or many people on your site. I don't know his background, but when it comes to VALUE Don, I make up for that.

You think we exaggerated the press on our web?  Funny I could say the same about many restaurants and chefs all over the world.

Opinions and critiques? Professional or Amateur? Now thats a debate that should be on this site.