Deac

Dang...wife and I are both trying to now make reservations for one last meal there, and OpenTable is initially showing availability, but when you click on a time it then gives you an error message saying OpenTable is having trouble communicating with the restaurant. Then when you try again it says no tables within a 2.5 hour window.

And they're closed today so I guess I'll try and call first thing tomorrow.

More from the City Paper

"R.J. Cooper Says He Will Leave Rogue 24 At The End Of The Year" by Jessica Sidman on washingtoncitypaper.com

Well, Tom concludes his top food cities series this week with DC, which means it makes his top 10.

And lo and behold, this here community gets a shoutout on the sidebar under "Community"

This beer will always hold a sentimental place in my heart as it's probably one of the first two non-Bud, Miller, Busch, etc. beers I've ever had. That and Duck Rabbit's Milk Stout. I went to school in NC in the mid-2000s and the beer scene there had yet to truly explode, and this was one of the few local beers I can recall seeing in stores.

Adding more fuel to the fire: someone elbow wrote this week's First Bite and Tim Carman is writing the full review this week. But can't wait to learn about where to eat in Houston!

Is Tom getting burned out? He's frequently missed chats this year, including last week and next week, has been doing his "Best Food Cities in America" piece, which sends him away from DC for weeks at a time, and this week his "review" (other than his LA food city article) is a Q&A, which includes a snippet from a recent chat.

It appears they're going to appear on an upcoming episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, via Eater.com.

Say what you will about Guy Fieri, this will bring a lot of good attention on this shop, and they deserve the kudos. Rumors they were filming at Toki as well.

I'm surprised TS didn't know Black Salt is closed for renovation.

Especially considering how much he loves to talk about restaurant design, and loves to talk about when others go under the knife.

And last year his dining guide got some flack for being mostly upscale places in NW DC, other than Rose's and maybe one or two others.

Will be interesting to see if he has any "out there" picks in his top 10. Other than probably Rasika, I'm guessing it's gonna be mostly New American/Italian places (G was one).

I don't spend a lot of time on 19th Street, but haven't gotten the impression that it's quite the ghost town you imply. Obviously 19th Street and that whole vicinity (roughly the 20036 zip code) isn't "hot", like 14th St. NW and H St. NE, but I'd say it's still prime, especially given its density in both office buildings and high-priced residential property.

As to the department stores in the old downtown dying out, that is emblematic of the general death of traditional downtowns as shopping destinations for suburb-dwellers, and more particularly the decline of the department-store paradigm.

There are plenty of lunch places around there that have lines out the wazoo daily: Chipotle, Greek Deli (within arm's reach of Famous Luigi's), Taylor, Bub and Pop's, Shake Shack, District Taco, Surfside, and the forthcoming Cava Grille (I assume), and plenty more I'm forgetting. I just don't think people have as much time for a full sit-down lunch a la Vidalia. And it can definitely be a ghost town after hours and on weekends.

I'm excited they're opening one in Dupont (on Connecticut Ave near Shake Shack). Will be a great addition to my lunch rotation.

As for another quick serve option in the neighborhood - check out Donburi. It isn't "quick serve" but if the place isn't too busy it usually only take about 5-10 minutes for your order and you pay in advance and sit at the bar so you aren't waiting for a waiter or pay a tip.

I love Donburi, but I want something where I can get a lot of vegetables and/or a salad.

I just read on Eater DC (original story on PoPville) that Shawarma Spot has closed.

I'm a little surprised that both Shawarma King *and* Shawarma Spot closed; I was figuring it would be one or the other, but not for any logically sound reason.

I was the one who emailed PoPville about it (the reader quoted in his story). I've lived in the neighborhood for 3 years and it's been 3-4 different shawarma-type places (some of them named Shawarma Spot!). Across the street there was a 2nd location of Mediterranean Spot (the other is at U and 15th), but it changed its name to something simple like Philly Cheesesteaks a little while after opening and it, too, is now closed. Would like some more quick-serve places in the neighborhood that aren't Jumbo Slice or Amsterdam Falafel (though I admittedly hit up both for dinner from time to time). A Cava Grille or SweetGreen would be great.

I'm still not sure I buy it as a touristy area. That seems more like the Wharf they're building just a short ways away with a restaurant from seemingly every local big name chef. With the amount of condos and apartments that have gone up recently around Navy Yard, plus the amenities neighborhoods need like the new Harris Teeter, future Whole Foods, Vida gym, future movie theater, new Banfield Pet Hospital, and more, it seems that developers are really catering to attract residents. When I lived on the Hill I'd walk down to Yards Park a lot on weeknights around dusk (this was before Morini opened) and most of the people walking around seemed like locals -- people walking their dog, joggers, young families letting their kids splash in the water.

There aren't a whole lot of hotels around there at the moment (not sure how many are on the horizon), so not sure where the tourists would be coming from. Can't really see many walking from The Mall. I think Osteria Morini is just aiming to be the best/nicest restaurant in an emerging 'hood.

Oh, and a prominent local critic was there -- expect to see a review soon.

Hmm, could this be the one who tweeted last night about a great happy hour spot on the same strip?

I do think that Komi has cut back on the number of "substantial" courses before the pasta course. My first time after the parade of small plates concluded with the famous date, we had a lamb tongue gyro with foie gras followed by a housemade halfsmoke paired with a beer (and we weren't doing the drinks pairing). that was a few years ago, but when we went in November it was straight to pasta after the date.

One of my favorite ways I've had uni was at the Sushi Taro omakase where Chef Nobu wrapped lobes around small slivers of wagyu/Kobe beef (don't remember which), topped with a little sea salt, and placed these "rolls" on a hot stone for them to cook in the amount of time it took for him to set them on the stone and hand me the platter. Delightful.

Zakarian getting sued for the same amount.

Had a pretty good meal here on Saturday night with my mom, aunt, and cousin. My mom loves really good housemade pasta and since she came here on short notice my options for Italian reservations were limited. I wanted Osteria Morini since my wife and I have enjoyed several meals there and the setting is so lovely, but alas, nothing doing. Didn't want to break the bank at Fiola/Mare and Casa Luca was full. I saw Posto had plenty of times available on Open Table which made me a little cautious, but remembering that the chef moved over from Tosca I was hopeful.

Our waitress was very pushy about wine and appetizer orders basically as soon as we sat down and hadn't had a chance to look at the menu (my mom and I arrived separately so we were exchanging pleasantries with the other 2 in the party). And she came by probably another 3 times in the the next 5 minutes. Finally, we did order wine and a pair of bruschetta plates. Annoyingly, it was only when she brought out the wine did she tell us of the specials, including a lovely sounding zucchini blossom appetizer, which would have been helpful to know about in one of her previous visits to the table as we surely would have done that and one bruschetta.

Our appetizers, however, were good, with one plate having very fresh summery tomatoes with basil and ricotta while the other was roasted peppers with tons of almonds. I preferred the former to the latter as the flavors married much better. At $8 for 2 pieces of bread per order, however, not sure if that's a great deal. But the table seemed to like it.

We all ordered pastas as our mains. My aunt got "Tagliatelle"” spinach tagliatelle, free range veal Bolognese, tomato sauce, fresh herbs, parmesan cheese 20," my mom and cousin got "Finferli"”  taglierini with chanterelle mushroom ragu, asparagus, squash blossoms, Pecorino cheese 20," while I got a half orders of that Finferli and "Pappardelle"” carrot pappardelle, tuscan style rabbit ragu, fresh thyme, olive oil 23." My aunt seemed satisfied with hers, but I had been debating between that and the pappardelle and am very glad I chose what I did. One of the finest plates of pasta I've had in a long while. The Finferli was declicious as well, with the mushrooms chopped finely and a bit on the crispy side, which made for a nice textural contrast. The pecorino made for a nice salty and slightly creamy component as it was cut in large shreds rather than grated.

Another service quirk was them bringing out bread after our mains came out when all other tables had it at the start. Our waitress was scolding the food runners in Spanish right at our table for not bringing it out earlier. My mom also got an order of the eggplant parm to go with her half order of pasta, and it came to the table a few minutes after the pastas and again the waitress was scolding the food runner in Spanish. Too bad I speak the language so could understand her, and it just made her look really unprofessional.

Dessert was less successful. I can't seem to find the dessert menu online but it was something like torre di cioccolato -- and I just remember the cake component being dry.

This is a restaurant I've passed numerous times over the years and never paid much mind to, but with how good the pastas were, I will definitely be back soon.

Just had a nice dinner on Central's patio and we overlooked the forthcoming hotel. The big blue signs surrounding the building still promise a flagship Jose Andres restaurant.

Trump suing ThinkFoodGroup for $10 million

"Trump Sues ThinkFoodGroup for $10 Million for Backing Out of Hotel Restaurant Deal" by Jessica Sidman on washingtoncitypaper.com

Their old storefront is now home to a psychic

When browsing the site on an iPad I can't see when the last post in a thread was made.