Sthitch

I always make sure to grab lunch at a Raman shop when I am in Honolulu. make sure you find one filled with Japanese.

Silentbob,

Your Palm boycott sounds an awful lot like my Clyde's boycott.

Oh no, you mentioned a Holy Grail of Barbecue for some of us!!  Rocklands!

Blasphemy! 

I try to eat there as much as possible and all the folks in my office have learned that Red Hot and Blue and a few lousy others are pale in comparison to Rocklands.

Please try their pulled pork platter to change your mind.  Sweet Tea too!

....and no I'm not affiliated, just love good barbecue done right.

Actually, the blasphemy is comparing Rocklands to decent BBQ. The first time I had Rocklands, I found the pulled pork to look and smell like the real deal, but it lacked any flavor, and the meat was quite dry and unpleasant. I have tried it several other times, and nothing has been different from the first visit. The only thing that I have had there that are worse than the pulled pork are the ribs. They tasted washed-out, as if they had been boiled first (talk about blasphemy).

I pass a Popeye's on my way to Flavors when I need a fried chicken fix, the smell has never inticed me to stop there instead.

"What do you want me to do?" 

Is there some school for manager's of crappy restaurants that teaches them to say this? It seems that they try to put the onus on the customer to rectify the problem instead of fixing it themselves. When I had a truly horrible meal at the Tyson’s Legal Seafood where the waitress honored us with her presence just twice, once to take our order and then to give us the bill, when I spoke with the manager he asked “what would you like for me to do?” My answer was, “oh be creative, find someway to make me happy after such a poor experience.” He offered me desert, but would not take my uneaten entrée off the bill.

His regional manager did not agree with his decision, and credited my Visa for the dinner, and sent me a gift certificate. He also thought that the question was inappropriate and that he should have offered a solution and not expect me to tell him what would make me happy.

The only problem I have with the Prime rib is the wine service. Even if you order a nice bottle of wine the glasses provided are way too small. They allow corkage, but if I remember correctly, it is $25 a bottle. No matter what, you still get the crappy glasses.

Clyde's has always been a disappointment to me, and last September was the final straw. The manager sent me a letter good for $75 worth of food, I still have not been back. Here is the story that I originally posted on chowhound.com on 9/17/04:

Because Clyde’s is having their lobster fest I decided to humor my wife and go. I am not generally a fan of Clyde’s, and the last time we were there I had one of the worst dining experiences of my life, both poor food and service. But just to make sure that my wife is happy, I decided to go. Our waitress had a trainee trailing her. This is usually a sign that you have one of the better waiters/waitresses. We placed our drink orders, and the wine arrived in a reasonable amount of time. The waitress was prompt in taking our order, and the appetizers again arrived in a reasonable amount of time, and my raw oysters were fine, but no lemon or Tabasco sauce came with them. My wife had the very flavorful day boat scallops. We finished these and our plates were cleared promptly, and a refill of my wife’s drink order was taken, I had ordered my entrée wine when I placed my order. I was assured that the wine would be delivered before my entrée. It did not, but that was the least of my concerns.

My wife’s lobster arrived and was cooked nicely. But the prime rib that I ordered arrived well done, I had ordered it medium rare. Also the baked potato arrived with no toppings available. Anyway, I sent it back to get what I had ordered. Another piece of beef arrived, this one was more medium, but I tried to give it a go. It was cold, when I say cold, I mean that the edges were cold to the touch. The trainee came by the table to ask how it was, I told her that it was cold. She took it back and the arrived with the same piece of meat. She had it “reheated”. Now a piece of medium prime rib was now well done, and still not warm. Her response was “I’m sorry what do you want, I am a vegetarian, and have no frame of reference.” OK, now, I do not like most vegetables, but I know how they should be prepared, and I do not make a living serving food, nor have I ever been in the food business. I told her that I wanted a piece of medium rare meat that is not cold. She asked if I wanted to keep what I had and she would get me a new one. I told her to just take it away. The non-trainee waitress showed-up with another piece of meat. This one also looked medium, but since my wife was almost done with her lobster, I thought I would give it a try. First thing I did was touch the edge of the meat, and guess what, it was cold. I told the waitress to feel the meat. She was not excited by this, but I insisted that she do so. When I finally got her to do so, she understood, and asked if she wanted me to try another piece. Not a chance. I told her to take it back and just bring me a lobster. It arrived and was fine, not out standing, but fine.

It annoys me that after so many foul-ups the waitress should have at least brought the manager over to placate us, but she did not. She offered no compensation, a desert, a drink, what have you. She was attentive, and under normal circumstances she would have been fine, but she did not know how to handle such situations. This is the first time I have ever had to return a dish more than once, and I will not be going back.

I am happy to hear it turned out well. I had a couple of wonderful Chablis this weekend, so I did actually wonder if you opened the bottle.

Now make sure to tell your friend that in the future he is no to ship wine in August.

This event is aptly named. If you like loud music, long lines, and large crowds, I recommend going. The one positive thing I can say about it is that the oysters are good.

Beyond that, I've had nice meals in the Gaslamp District but nothing sticks out in my memory.

That is kind of how I have always felt about the restaurants in the Gaslamp, noting bad, just nothing memorable.

If you like steak, I would recommend Rainwater's on Kettner [Closed in December, 2009]. It is the best steakhouse on the west coast, and only rivaled by Ringside in Portland.

In the "for what it's worth category" Zagat gives Gary Danko a food rating of 29 and the French Laundry 28 in its 2005 guide reversing the food ratings from earlier years. This is the link:

"Gary Danko" on zagat.com

Danko is a great restaurant, but the likelihood of getting in at this short a notice is nil. When I was in San Francisco in June, I had an amazing meal at Frisson [Closed in 2008]. I would not begin to tell you what is good on the current menu since it changes with the season, but if they have the horseradish mashed potatoes, I would not miss this dish. I became a big fan of Chef Daniel Patterson when I ate the best meal I have ever had in the United States there, it is just too bad it closed. Frisson has a laid back, loungy feel to it. There is a large selection of small plates to share, or for easy foraging. The wine by the glass selection is long extensive, but very well thought out, and the only place I have seen that offers Grande Dame Champagne by the glass.

I would also recommend having at least one drink in the bar at the top of the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel. The promo shots for this bar were made by Ansel Adams, and the view is unrivaled in the city.

Shipping wine in August is never a good idea. It sounds like the wine cooked during shipment, and I suspect that it will not taste very good. But it won't kill you to give it a try.

Which Raveneau Chablis is this? Francois Raveneau produces a number of different Chablis. You may want to contact MacArthurs to see if they carry it. They have the best Burgundy selection in the city.

I am having trouble with this piece. How are RP and Loeb germane when discussing Sutter Home? I can believe that the wine maker does not care what his wine tastes like, I don't know of anything other than carp that they make or ever made. If they did make wines to try and impress the critics, they have failed miserably.

Has anyone tried the crab cake app at Matchbox? I was at dinner with one of the owners last night and he was explaining them to me. They sound rather intriguing.

Yeah, that's high on the list for when I eat there 'for real', but I think Wednesday lunch is officially going to be the Maki/Nigiri combo with maybe an a la carte order of maguro or buri nigiri tacked on for good measure.

I have only ever been to Kaz for lunch, but I have a friend with a nice expense account who cannot get enough of the Tuna w/ Foie or the Otoro. We went for lunch during RW, not even realizing that it was RW, and had the best lunch we have ever had there. The softshell roll was simply sublime.

Next time you need to try the Tuna with Foie. It is pure heaven.

Are you charged for OpenTable reservations that are cancelled?

Glad to hear that they have turned things around. My one experience there was far from positive, but I might give it another shot (hopefully the coffee will be hot this time).

Or a certain big name restaurant with a big name chef is closing due to financial difficulties.....

I thought about that, but is that really big news that a restaurant that is already in bankruptcy is closing? The only way I could see that being big news is if the District were to play hardball with that chef (i.e. charing him with something). Whatever it is, I hope that the news is positive.

The Washington area gets a number of mentions in the new Culinary Arts magazine. The have a short piece on the comings and goings around the city, the size of which is usually reserved for New York, or San Francisco. There are pieces that include the food that Eric Ziebold is serving this fall, a story about cocktails that stars off by mentioning Eve, and a notation of a bread that Mark Furstenberg at the "Worlds of Flavor Baking & Pastry Arts Invitational." This magazine has always done a better job than most of not getting stuck in the Paris-NYC-San Francisco rut of restaurant news.

Are you sure it was '03 and not '02? The '03's I have had have been quite nice, not as good as '98 or 2000, but almost as good as '01. '02 was a complete dog and should be avoided at all cost. The Southern Rhone valley experienced flooding at harvest time, and with few exceptions were not able to get the fruit in before the rains.

As for Beaucastel, their CdP is well outside of this price range. The Coudoulet de Beaucastel (a Cotes du Rhone) is a fabulous wine and should be considered for this list. With the exception of anything from '02 I would recommend almost anything from the Rhone Valley in the price range, whether it is a Gigondas, a CdP, St. Joseph's, Lirac or Cornas.

There was nothing ground breaking in today's food section, unless it has something to do with Drink, I cannot imagine why that would shake anyone, or attract anyone with over-priced calamari and hamburgers.

You are correct about the Prima label. You can generally find it for between $15 and $20. The winemaker was in town in June along with some of the hottest Spanish winemakers. They will be back next year for a barrel tasting and grand dinner, I will keep you posted.

When I really want a good cup of coffee I head to Greenberry's on Wilson. I don't drink coffee all that often (some deleterious effects on my body), so when I get it I try and make it count. The cup of black coffee at Starbucks was acidic, and tasted burnt, nothing pleasant about it, I would rather drink cold espresso at Leopold’s Kafe (which was my experience there).

I have to say that the best cup of coffee I have ever had, was at Nectar. That was the place that kept on giving.

There are still many Chateauneuf-du-Papes available for less than $30. In that price range, I particularly like Domaine Bois de Boursan, Paul Autard, and Pegu to name a few. I would have loved to add Vieux Telegraph and Beaucastel to this list, but unless someone knows where to find them in this price range, please let me know.

The Spanish are offering some wonderful wines in this range. My favorite Spanish red at this time is Prima, it hits at the bottom of this range. I would also recommend Muga Reserve if you can find it, it costs about $30 a bottle, and worth every penny.

While it is just outside of the $30 top end, I should mention that one of the best Champagnes that you can find for less than $70 is Delamotte NV, I just picked up a six pack for $31 a bottle, and would have gotten more, but it was the last six bottles. I am sure that I will come up with more as I think about it.