Lary

who here uses revel? do you hate it? does it make you want to smash it? does it work as reliably as a traditional pos?

we've made significant investment in crap-ass poslavu at 2 locations, are so over it, but are hesitant to make the step up to revel unless it, like, works.

thanks for any feedback!

Sadly

LOL

went to check this place out after seeing it on here. the entrance is dumb, but otherwise they created a very charming space without going too crazy with "prohibition era." warm and relaxed waitstaff. good cocktails and a handsome bar, the bartenders do a smashy smashy thing repeatedly (crushing ice?) that kinda harshes the vibe, and i hope it has a function instead of being the way the old timers did it or something? small draft list of mostly local standards.

the two-tops are too close together and may as well been a communal table, and led to a super awkward exchange with our neighbors that involved a swollen bare foot (not mine) and my wife's face but we worked it out. they did a good job with noise management, leaving the iron frame of an old suspended ceiling but insulating above it for sound absorption.

we ordered off the board and had an excellent meal and experience, looking forward to returning as soon as we have another reason to schlep out there.

to don, on the 10th anniversary of this website thingie!

Yes of course. My apologies.

This is something for restaurants in "mixed-use 'Districts'" like Mosaic to think about: If one of the selling points is "Live here, and walk to dinner!", then unless you telecommute, you're going to be elsewhere for lunch, and the development will be a ghost town.

As far as I can see, this is a permanent and intractable problem. RJ, if you can see a way around that issue, I'd be curious about your take on things. The obvious answer (to me, anyway) is for the "District" to have businesses that will bring people into work, and that way, people will need a place to eat during lunch. But in order to do this, developers have to sell the "District" as a place to live, a place to work, a place to own a business, and pretty much a self-contained development on Mars which satisfies all possible human needs. Have you ever noticed the sketches for these places have at least one smiling bicyclist gently peddling through town, as others walk carrying backpacks and briefcases? There's generally one or two cars somewhere in the picture too, but everybody is smiling. And the stroller - there's always someone pushing a stroller. And it's a sunny day, and there's plenty of greenery including trees and flowers. Like something straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, but with integration as a given, not a point of controversy. It's all very lovely. I want to see one of these sketches where a cyclist just got doored, and is having a screaming match with the driver of the car.

(Never let it be said that I can't go "clean.")

Mosaic's really risky.  I would've loved to be a fly on the wall during the urban planning stage.

"So, let me get this straight.  You want to take the spot of land where Salvadorean gangs once hacked people to death with machetes and turn it into a Yuppie Heaven?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"So...assuming you can get the hobos and ultra-violent Salvadorean gangs out, what are you going to do about the fact that Merrifield is one of the ugliest fucking places in the area?"

"We're gonna build high enough buildings that when you're in the center of the 'district' that you're unable to see all the depressing commercial/industrial-zoned land.  And if the place really takes off, we'll just buy up everything and turn it into a new Reston Town Center."

"But what about the people living in the Yuppie Containers whose windows face the depressing C/I-zoned land?"

"We'll just charge less for those units."

I am not crazy about shiny new stuff but I like Mosaic. I've been coming to merrifield since the early 90s to see movies and record music and eat at the then-exotic taco bell, never ran across many hobos or hackings but it was always such a barren wasteland that begged to be fixed up. Now, Erica and I are there almost every day since we live down the street. To their credit, at least the Edens folks were/are focused on bringing in a significant amount of local restauranteurs (or restaurant groups' replicants) to their little fake city.

As a frequenter of many establishments in Mosaic, there is NOT a lack of activity in the daytime even during the week. The masses just all prefer to wait in line for a cardboard bowl of lunch instead of sitting down for a quality meal. I've spent the same amount of money on a cava bowl (admittedly with upcharge for double meat, fucking hungry over here) as a gigantic sandwich and chips at Gypsy Soul. The amount of time spent standing in the lunch line at a (clenches teeth) "fast casual" restaurant, finding a cafeteria table amongst the strollers to sit to shovel food in your mouth while staring at your phone is not significantly less than a full service restaurant meal. We don't go out to dinner too much so are bummed to lose a great restaurant option for lunch.

"Members of the press who recognize what we are, and what we do, give us enormous respect - up until the point when they're told not to by the companies they now work for (writers inevitably change jobs, and wind up at the three or four biggest publications which deliberately ignore us because we're "competition," and these once-honorable individuals just end up selling out"

So much so that they aren't even shoveling dirt on your grave today. What the hell. An active donrockwell.com will be missed, and I hope this is a "if ya can't beat em join em" somethingorother so your admirers can keep reading you somewhere (if this isn't an actual april fools thing). Either way, this crucial rant is punk as fuck.

manipulation via PR and shrewd politics (*), and there's nothing wrong with it - in fact, once I find the right person, I'm thinking about doing the same thing for this community as a basic means of survival. PR Reps, if you're reading this, you know where to reach me - I am in the process of interviewing.

slightly off topic, but this tangent is worth commenting on. why hire a media pimp when your reputation is strongly respected in the area, and you already attract most of the local "food community" to your site? i don't mind seeing an ad or whatever you need to do to keep this thing going. i am certainly aware of the downside of not budgeting PR, but you built this thing and we are all here already... as a member of this community i can't figure out the benefit of investing in this? you've displayed more than thinly veiled distaste for the relationship between PR and media, why play the game?

This news is not at all surprising to me, or any number of friends who also worked for the group in the last few years.

"Could Matchbox Become The Next Cheesecake Factory?" by Nevin Martell on washingtonpost.com

"Kim came in looking for a waiter job, but Neal told him that he didn't hire men. "You could say that in the '90's," says Neal."

#notall90sbars

victoria gastropub in columbia

major bummer. what is the deal with that shitty wfc plaza? crazy turnover lately. 

Fucking A

We don't pay to advertise, anywhere. Yelp calls our businesses constantly, and my cell phone (fuckers!) monthly to shake us down, and rudely question my business sense for not advertising with them. We would be edging into the 5th star zone if it weren't for their fake ass "algorithm."

Here's how our businesses have been greyed out.

galaxy hut: 370 official reviews. 18 flagged five star reviews. 4 flagged four star reviews. 3 flagged 2 & 3 star reviews and zero flagged one stars.

spacebar: 110 official reviews. 7 flagged five star reviews. 1 flagged four star. 2 flagged 1 & 2 stars.

The galaxy hut and spacebar are mostly run by our staff. Erica and I rarely schmooze or even identify ourselves as bar owners when at the bars or out and about. We do not in any way encourage our customers to positively review us. We do not have yelp stickers or any other badges of honor adorning our windows. We do not have a PR person or anybody else working on our behalf other than our amazing staff. I don't know why yelp would do this besides being able to profit from unlocking five star reviews. It's pretty blatant.

That said, I use stupid yelp all the fucking time to find stuff, and it's hard to complain about owning joints that are only allowed to be 4 stars.  

What a great little place! Came across it randomly while shopping, if we lived closer I'd be at the counter many a morning. Went on a Saturday and Jack was on the grill, the original restaurant owner's granddaughter working the register, and that's it. Had a tasty roast beef sandwich and a damn fine cup of coffee. Nice and old, decorated like a shrine to 1989. Absolutely love that they do zilch to try to cater to the old town demographic, and are small enough to survive doing what the hell they want for their regulars and whoever else wants to play by their rules.

Putting "jacks" into this post so apostrophobes can find it in the search.

bummed, while we prefer haandi, curry mantra II was our favorite and most dapper delivery option

best fuck you too

This is one of those places I will likely not be able to ever try because I have no patience for waiting until a table frees up given the lines that form (do they still) even before they open. I read about the rooftop thing you can reserve, but it makes little sense when it is just my wife and I. Ah well, there are lots of places in DC to try and enjoy.

they still do. we showed up 4:55 on a wednesday and the line was to the ugly mug. waited in line with a bunch of other schmucks, reached the door at about 5:45 and could have been seated in an hour and a half but we had to be somewhere else later on. the line thing would be less annoying if we lived close by, but schlepping to dc and standing anxiously, nope. will wait a couple months and try again though!

veg-tanza

Lunch!

that pole bean thing from the other night would be a great brunch item. 

Erica and I Thoroughly enjoyed dinner here last night. Once we chuckled through the wooden and leather gates expecting to see, like, motorcycles hanging from the walls, we were pleased to find the inside is nicely minimalist. You can gawk at the open kitchen action from most seats (which are super comfy!) Everything took a little long to come out, but nothing worth kvetching about especially during opening week and a full house a couple hours into dinner service. Pig ears, tartare, frogmore stew, rabbit dumplings, and desserts were all, if I had to describe them, fucking awesome. RJ told a kitchen dude to get the fuck away from him when they entered his zone trying to ask him something, after expertly mixed "liberal" and "gnome" cocktails found this more amusing than painful (and are rethinking our management style). Chef seemed to be in expediter mode with a super strong crew backing him up, so we won't be worried if we don't see him in the mix on future visits. Stoked that this is down the street from our house and looking forward to many more trips!   

http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?/topic/38566-grilled-cheese-maker-beer-pourer-and-friendly-chatter-needed/

Spacebar, an established and independently owned beer bar and sandwich joint in the City of Falls Church is looking for a new crew member.

Experience on a restaurant line, passion for craft beer and outgoing personality are musts.

We run a small crew, and candidate must be willing to both bartend and cook (not simultaneously!).

$10.00/hour plus tips (split evenly regardless of job duty, we can give you examples of the take-home on different nights if interested).

Hiring for Wednesday through Saturday evenings.

We are also accepting resumes from those interested in a management position.

Please email spacebar.va@gmail.com if interested, thanks!

-Lary and Erica

spcbr.com

Lol somehow all the grilled cheeses and tots haven't widened Erica at all actually! Thanks for the heads up, I edited the post!

Spacebar and Galaxy Hut don't have a holding company, investors, partners, etc. Just me and my wife Erica.

There is lots of street parking available during our business hours, try Lee and Oak streets on either side of us!

-spacebar