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DaveO

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Everything posted by DaveO

  1. DaveO
    I'm curious how the managers and owners feel about this with regard to front of the house staff.
  2. DaveO
    We received a call from an old grad. I would unequivocally say he had one of the most outstanding engaging personalities of any graduate we have had over the last several decades. Truly engaging, fun, and sort of charismatic. He had a full time job in the IT industry for years and predominantly bartended for special events and catering over the last decade. He also bartended at a sports bar for a fair period. He has an extremely honest work ethic and could easily be one of the more engaging personality strong bartenders I have run into over many years. He is now in his forties and would be best suited for a more upscale environment with an older crowd. I'm putting this out there on his behalf. If there are GM's, managers, who would value a person who could develop a tremendous loyal following, this individual could fill your bill. If you are interested in interviewing him, you could contact me, Dave, at the Professional Bartending School 703 841 9700 or DM me through this forum. We don't normally do this, but after several decades this person truly stood out. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
  3. DaveO
    That is a splendid idea. I'm going for it. I appreciate the careful attention to detail with specific reference to balling the clothes on a lower shelf so as not to block too much light. Truly a carefully thought out plan!!! Do you have other similar ideas for exquisite fine dining experiences?
  4. DaveO
    Are there no exceptions to the "personal attacks are frowned on rule"? I'd make an exception for this one.
  5. DaveO
    Stopped by today for lunch and had a large gumbo. yummmm. spicy, creamy, the rice on top is a nice touch. I only wish it were twice as big. Nice soup for a cold day.
  6. DaveO
    touche plus I haven't eaten at Pasta Plus so I can't add anything relative to the "best" part of your terrific sentence.
  7. DaveO
    hmmm....I always thought Il Pizzico in Rockville offered absolutely great food in a particularly ratty looking dumpy shopping center...albeit on Rockville Pike, which is, I suppose a "better location"
  8. DaveO
    I think I'll head up to Laurel. tx
  9. DaveO
    That is a tremendous detailed review. Congrats on the wedding and such a successful event.
  10. DaveO
    If you want a stiff drink go to Stan's on Vermont Avenue. That place has maintained a reputation for stiff drinks for at least 30 years. (I can personally attest to the first ten of those last 30-- and have heard the same thing on an off for the last 20 years. Now that is consistency.
  11. DaveO
    Oh man. one of their original sandwiches, the gurubin was named after a friend of the owners, a guy I knew, a sort of guru himself named rubin. What a memory.
  12. DaveO
    Had a french dip at Earl's today along with the sweet potato fries. Absolutely great sandwich with a lot of terrific flavors and side dish....and filling.
  13. DaveO
    Ouch! Such a friendly quality place going down. I read the City Paper article. Oh those comments by readers at the end were depressing. I thought I recognized the father's name. Didn't know him but I used to know some of his peers pretty well in the RE business. Some of his peers have as much long term experience and smarts as any people in commercial RE in the region. What a lesson. The RE people know the $ and cents of RE and retail real estate but they don't know the insides of what makes a restaurant /f&b place work. Ultimately only the owners really get to know it....and know it well...after seeing the daily and weekly revenues and all those danged expenses. Always sad when someone's passion, brilliant idea, and quality product gets screwed by the hard reality of $$ and cents.
  14. DaveO
    I'm so happy the former version of Wilson Tavern closed. I think the property owner screwed the former tenant, Kitty's and got away w/ murder on the deal: a somewhat unprecedented breaking of a lease on a very wierd technicality. Never went to the former version of Wilson Tavern. I stopped by tonight, having heard from one of the crowd that used to hang at Kitty's that it has totally changed. Now I like wonderful crafted food, but I also like comfortable dives. Dives are for comfort, relaxation, and fun conversation...and having fit in w/ the older folks who hung at the old kitty's I'm glad one dive in Arlington continues to exist. Here here for the $1 dollar millers, the $2 fish tacos, and similar inexpensive fare that does have a place. Cripes Clarendon and even Ballston is a plethora of ever fancier places, some of which do have exciting menus and sparkling tasty cocktails. Its exciting to find new different specialties....but I still love a dive. Takes me back to watching a championship boxing match at Milly and Al's sometimes in the '80's. Some American gringo champ was fighting some Latin champ. The place was packed with Hispanics and gringos like myself. Cheap beer was flowing. Men and women rooting and cheering. My crowd broke the place up with a rousing rendition of the theme song from Rocky. Damned if I can recall who was fighting let alone who won. but it was a helluva good time.
  15. DaveO
    To all those employers: The Professional Bartending School is an excellent source for employers. Our employment services are free to employers. I just noticed that Ridgewells/Purple Tie hired at least 15 graduates for the Holiday Season, plus additional events. We did a blast for them in mid August. I think they are pretty well staffed up now for the holidays. Our placement services do not charge for accessing our grads. We don't "do contracts" We do have a current data base of about 1300 graduates who are looking for employment, from parties and special events to part-time and full-time employment. We are expanding that. Employers of all sorts throughout the DC metro region (and beyond) use our services ranging from looking for part-time to full time bartenders. The grads range from new to some with over a decade of experience. They received a 40 hour hands on program, TAM alcohol management training, and customer service training. We don't claim they are the best bartenders in the world. We know that. But they are great for training. We are fulfilling a request now for an "artisan" bartender/manager who will uptrain a grad or two. Best way to contact us is through our job placement services: email at: pbsplacement@gmail.com or call for our job placement manager, Fatima at 703-841-9757. We also direct staff special events, catering, parties, etc. We can screen graduates for you. We can blast out emails to a large volume of grads. We will shortly be able to screen by geography. We are expanding the contact list as our total graduate list is well over 10,000 in the last decade, although we have no idea how many are currently or would be willing to bartend. Any questions or comments? I'll be happy to respond. Dave
  16. DaveO
    I was at Hudson a few months ago. It reeked of mediocrity in every way. It depressed me, especially in that all 3 of the bartenders on staff at the time were recent graduates of our bartending school. But they were all newish and just weren't good with what must have been terrible direction from any experienced staff. and btw: I too thought it was an attractive bar area. IMHO there is an opportunity for a place to stay open to 5 AM. There is this largish after bar crowd that will go to a place with decent food/ and drinks into the wee hours of the evening when sane people have gone home. Its often a bar business crowd and they spend well while not being too demanding. But in any city there is only so much opportunity, so IMHO you have to be better than anyone else. Its really a great happy hour and light dining location in my opinion. Good luck to the new guys.
  17. DaveO
    Oh good. I love lobster rolls too and I'm nearby. I'll be there. Good luck!!
  18. DaveO
    I'd like to update to just say that Toscana continues to put out terrific NJ/NY style pastas and pizza that beat the pants off of most places in the region. Very very true and consistent to the style and flavors of "classic" Italian food from the NY metro region at reasonable prices. My favorite is the Chicken Franchaise Pizza; a white/lemon and garlic sauce with a healthy dose of chicken across the top. The Portobello pie has a similar sauce with a healthy spread of mushrooms. Sauces and pastas are more true to the flavors of the NY metro area than you will find most anywhere in this region. The red sauces are thick, tasty, and hearty. The pastas maintain firmness. NO....I don't work there. Just a big fan. They are running a lot of specials. Tremendous prices. They have a new catering menu. As referenced above the owner, Joe, is tremendously friendly, interactive and fun. The place deserves a trial. Its hidden inside the courthouse courtyard behind Velocity Grill. On top of that they have a new catering menu.
  19. DaveO
    damn. I stopped by there not too long ago one evening....after not having been there for years. It was so similar. I too liked their refried beans.... sad..l'd say their new mexican style cooking was a tad better or considerably better than other places in the region for a long time. and above all very comfy place. ugh. after reading the arlnow article, as a former retail broker...that is simply a miserably tough space to rent and keep occupied; on a hill that cuts active foot traffic, slightly below ground. That location turns off foot traffic ....and customers will only make it work, if the place has a deserved reputation. That landlord is going to have a tough time keeping a tenant in there over any stretch. Bad decision on an above value if understated restaurant, IMHO.
  20. DaveO
    Although I don't know this for a fact, I would suspect Carmine's could do that.
  21. DaveO
    I was reading this...and it struck me later....Howl/ Allan Ginsburg. oh my been years.
  22. DaveO
    The other day I published a rave review (in a different venue) abt the Starbucks at Courthouse in Arlington. It was all about staffing. Some great customer service. Today, while in line, I witnessed another terrific example in front of me. Really outstanding. I've experienced more than one other similar example at that Starbucks. Frankly I don't go there "that much". Today I asked to speak to the manager and we discussed it. I asked what they were doing....and he attributed as much of the positive staffing to hiring and looking for certain attributes. Now...I actually go far more often to independent coffee shops than starbucks; some enough to be a "regular" and know the staff. But frankly great customer service is "infrequent" and more infrequent at independent's than at the couple of starbucks I might go to more often. Now we also run independent small businesses (not restaurants) and it is very tough to get or develop great staffing. The terrific restaurant operators here know that..as do regular customers as do the FOH staff that are truly terrific. Unfortunately my experience with the independents is that they have all lagged somewhat from what I've experienced at Starbucks. Its a truly difficult task to upgrade staffing and when one achieves it....it simply adds millions to the dining experience.
  23. DaveO
    I basically optimize business websites for local businesses. Web Reviews are a fact of life. They make me terribly uncomfortable. If the restaurant operators here are to speak to this issue it will unveil all the incredible impactful elements of reviews. Of interest here is a story where a judge upheld a $150,000 penalty for falsified reviews. http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/05/24/appeals-court-upholds-150k-in-punitive-damages-for-3-fake-reviews/ Currently google is filtering reviews on some algo driven basis. Some go up, some don't. Auto dealers have possibly lost in the aggregate millions of reviews (probably all positive) ha haha. The industry is fighting it. We'll see how it plays out. Yelp....oooof....what more can I say. Yet I'll go here to review restaurants, and I'll read yelp reviews and those of other sources. I'm pretty sure our little businesses have been hit by 4 malicious attack reviews done or paid for by competitors. I've spent endless time going back and forth with the carriers of those reviews. 1 of the 4 were removed. I can't prove it though, unlike the examples above. Wish I could!!! I don't like writing bad reviews but if I get beastly service I love writing scathing reviews...then I want the business to see them. hell I'll take them down if the business rights the wrong. Web Reviews....ugh....its a complex issue
  24. DaveO
    Oh my. This is a lesson in Phomanship. Now I like Pho....but these are terrific observations, and one's I'll have to take into account and consider. I usually go for pho ga or chicken soup for exactly the reasons you suggest about the meats. Additionally I've had some wonderful thai chicken soups with very superior noodles, as referenced above, a delectable broth, and different flavorings. Unfortunately I've had that at more than one place and I can't recall which ones were particularly good and better than others. But I must admit these observations are right on target.
  25. DaveO
    I've been to Earl's recently. Its all because of the comments in this thread. Not sure why I've neglected it, as I've eaten there over the years, since I work so close...but simply haven't focused on it. The monty is excellent. Rare roast beef, a zingy bbq sauce on a soft roll. Very tasty, if not a bit messy...but definitely tasty. The roasted earl was also nice with excellent roasted pork. I'm partial to a a spicier sandwich, so it wouldn't be my first choice...but again the quality of the meat was excellent. On my 2nd visit I ate in toward the latter part of the lunch period. At a period where things were a bit slower one of the staff visited with everyone asked about the meal, and made suggestions and recommendations to one couple with kids. Always a nice move on the part of any f & b place. I'll keep going back to work my way through the menu.
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