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J&G Steakhouse, Chef Philippe Reininger's Steakhouse in the W Hotel Downtown - Closed


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A few weeks ago I read an article touching on the trend of famous chefs opening post here in the District. I read on THE LIST YOU ARE ON IT, that Jean George is to open a restaurant in the old Hotel Washington space. Since then I have been snooping around to see if I possibly there was any truth to this. I know the hotel is not slated to open till August 2009, but if anyone has any information, I am more than happy to listen. I am in the very early stages of putting together a manucript covering my experience all things gastronomic. This has given me a great excuse to taste all the city has to offer. If anyone can help with my research, I would greatly appreciate it.

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I know the hotel is not slated to open till August 2009, but if anyone has any information, I am more than happy to listen.

I overheard my automatonserver this evening at Oyamel say the hotel is opening July 8th, which is confirmed by the website.

I don't think it's any state secret at this point that Justin Guthrie is going to be Beverage Director (congratulations, Justin).

Cheers,

Rocks.

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THis is good news, the food at the old hotel really really sucked. I had way to many events there that were just bad (except for the view).

I overheard my automatonserver this evening at Oyamel say the hotel is opening July 8th, which is confirmed by the website.

I don't think it's any state secret at this point that Justin Guthrie will be running the beverage program.

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Another over-priced steak house in a hotel...yawn.

I know...how boring. This city has enough steak houses! I would love for something new, interesting, and different. Or at least a duplicate of a cuisine category that we don't have dozens of.

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Last night, I went for dinner at J&G and it was a great experience.

The dining-room is elegant but at the same time casual and also has a perfect sound level. Enough to feel in a public place but also you can have a conversation.

The menu is much more than a steak house with Asian influence and the salmon tartare is one of the best appetizer I had in a while followed closely with Shrimp wrapped in bacon.

The halibut is great with a spicy sauce and my wife had the BBQ lamb chops.

It was almost full on Monday because the food is good but also the pricing is very reasonable. Except the Foie gras (19$) all he appetizers are under

14 dollars, the fish entrees are between 22 and 26 $, the hanger steack is 22.

There is a big choice of wine by the glass at reasonable price and the service is smiling and efficient.

It is refreshing to see a steak house which is not overpriced with an innovative and clearly very good cooking.

My wife and I will go back there soon.

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Last night, I went for dinner at J&G and it was a great experience.

The dining-room is elegant but at the same time casual and also has a perfect sound level. Enough to feel in a public place but also you can have a conversation.

The menu is much more than a steak house with Asian influence and the salmon tartare is one of the best appetizer I had in a while followed closely with Shrimp wrapped in bacon.

The halibut is great with a spicy sauce and my wife had the BBQ lamb chops.

It was almost full on Monday because the food is good but also the pricing is very reasonable. Except the Foie gras (19$) all he appetizers are under

14 dollars, the fish entrees are between 22 and 26 $, the hanger steack is 22.

There is a big choice of wine by the glass at reasonable price and the service is smiling and efficient.

It is refreshing to see a steak house which is not overpriced with an innovative and clearly very good cooking.

My wife and I will go back there soon.

Thanks for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed J&G. I'm particularly interested in the wine selection and atmosphere. Sounds like it was pretty good, and that the noise level was reasonable. Just one question: in what way is J&G Asian influenced? Any particular dishes? Thanks.

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Thanks for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed J&G. I'm particularly interested in the wine selection and atmosphere. Sounds like it was pretty good, and that the noise level was reasonable. Just one question: in what way is J&G Asian influenced? Any particular dishes? Thanks.

The salmon tartare has ginger,lemon grass and lime.

The halibut has a Malaysian influence.

You probably have 7 or 8 dishes with Asian influence and some sauces which goes with the steak as well.

Try you will not be disappointed.

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The $58 five-course prix fixe meal at J&G is an awfully good deal, even if every course doesn't fully measure up. The starter of salmon tartare, with a wasabi base and ginger dressing is a winner, with just the right balance of heat. So is the wild mushroom risotto, made with sushi rice. The red snapper with mushrooms was perhaps cooked a minute long, but still reasonably moist, yet it doesn't stick in my mind as remarkable. Neither does the petit filet mignon, which, true to the cut, is wonderfully tender but short on flavor (the house steak sauce did help); the accompaniments of fries and sauteed spinach were nice, though. The warm (molten) chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream may sound like a yawn, but they do a respectable job with it. Cocktails (Pisco sour and a Gibson) were solid if unremarkable; much better was my quartino of Juan Gil Monastrell 2006--a luscious wine that I would gladly seek out elsewhere. Professional, friendly service, a filling, mostly delicious meal at a great price, and a nice evening overall.

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Dinner at the downstairs wine bar started off with a beautifully shaken Pisco Sour ($9), really one of the most impressive (and labor-intensive) versions I've had of this in a long time. I was so impressed by my bartender that I decided to go with a second mixed drink with my first course, rather than letting him off easy by ordering a glass of wine. :(

Bacon-Wrapped Gulf Shrimp ($14) with avocado, passion fruit, and honey mustard was too expensive for three pieces of shrimp. The ring of combined passion fruit and honey-mustard provided the necessary sweetness to balance the somewhat salty shrimp and bacon, but the sliced avocado underneath was too simple, and was perhaps there only for its cooling texture. Equally expensive was the Yellow Jacket ($15), a stunning tequila-based drink (fully described here) that was a perfect match with this dish, the obvious connection being tequila and avocado, but the two worked together in more complex ways than that.

Seared Halibut ($22) with bright-red scallion-chili sauce, basil, and celery reaffirmed this kitchen's ability to cook seafood, and was also a bold statement in fusing (sorry) eastern and western flavors. A delightfully fun and assertive dish, the fire cooled by a glass of chilled Mont Marcal Cava Rosado ($9).

As I was waiting for my next day's lunch (a carryout 8-Ounce J&G Cheeseburger ($15) with fries, and my own little personal bottle of Heinz Ketchup), I chatted with the bartender, who was really quite thorough and impressive at mixing drinks. I asked him if he had trained under Justin, and was genuinely surprised by his answer.

"Who is Justin?"

It turns out that the bartenders at the wine bar (which is apparently a separate entity from the main restaurant) were trained - not by the talented Justin Guthrie - but by a New York consulting firm called Employees Only, who came down, spent some time training the staff, and then left.

"Kind of like The Gibson," he said.

Regardless, it's nice to see more-and-more bartenders in this town who can mix a great drink. Obviously, being decent at something takes effort and diligence (and being great at anything takes many years), but it's pretty clear that many young bartenders in DC are achieving an acceptable level of competence fairly quickly (weeks, perhaps even days); now if we could only find ten people in this area with some depth of wine knowledge ... I wouldn't hold your breath on that one.

Cheers,

Rocks.

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My birthday dinner started off with a killer tasting margarita, one of the best I've had lately. My wife had the Seared Halibut and I had the Lamb Chops courtesy of TS WP recommendations. Roasted mushrooms as sides. A glass of the Juan Gil Monastrell from Jumilla. Everything was superb. We both loved the dining room - elegant and spacious, yet intimate and quiet. An oasis of calm. Service was excellent - responsive and non-obtrusive.

Thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience there - a very pleasant surprise. We will return.

-db

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I agree about the service at J & G. From the moment I walked in until I left, it was impeccable service. The drink recommendations and food recommendations were spot on with the food we ordered. My compliments to the team there and I highly recommend the restaurant.

OK, I'll bite. First, gracious service is not always at the top of the list when talking about DC restaurants. But I want to give out shout-outs to these three:

J & G Steakhouse

Siroc

Eventide

Each of these went far beyond what I usually expect to find in local restaurants. J & G was simply elegant; Siroc handled an overcooked restaurant week entree with aplomb; Eventide showed a customer orientation that other restaurants should emulate.

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I agree about the service at J & G. From the moment I walked in until I left, it was impeccable service. The drink recommendations and food recommendations were spot on with the food we ordered. My compliments to the team there and I highly recommend the restaurant.

We went for lunch today, and we were as pampered as puppies. The staff was wonderful, perhaps even slightly too attentive. Because we were seated 15 minutes late, we were rewarded with a free dessert. My grilled golden tilefish over a bed of mushrooms, carmelized onions, and other succulents was superb. My SO's jamine infused lemonade sent me scurrying to the web to find some jasmine liquid. Her chicken sandwich arrived with a Mt. Everest of fries. When she mentioned her aversion to them, she was treated to a bowl of fresh fruit which was very, very good.

My only gripe is that there is a $30 valet parking fee. In light of today's miserable weather, we did not want to find something on the street. OTOH, Cafe du Parc at the Willard validates, and one can get valet parking for free. But the food at J & G is better. We plan to return but will find another way to park.

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We had a celebratory dinner here last night. We started with a round of drinks at the wine bar downstairs which was a great start to the meal. My husband loves vodka tonics, but rarely orders them because they aren't usually mixed well. J & G's version tasted delicious even to me and I'm not a fan of vodka or tonic. My only (small) gripe is about the stools. I am a small person at 5 feet tall, but the seats on the stools were too small even for me. My husband decided to stand instead of perch on the stool. We were led to our table upstairs which was very comfortable and right by one of the windows.

We started with the calamari and the parmesan risotto. I was a little concerned that this would be a heavy start to our meal, but the risotto was surprisingly light and the yuzu dipping sauce for the calamari was very refreshing.

I don't eat poultry or red meat, but there was a variety of seafood dishes to choose from. Unfortunately, due to an allergy I was limited to the salmon with mashed potatoes and truffle vinaigrette.To his credit, our server offered to have the kitchen make any of the other available fish with the salmon preparation but I decided to have the dish as it was intended. The salmon was cooked perfectly and the dish was delicious as a whole. My husband had the 12 oz filet along with the potato gratin. He chose the J & G steak sauce, and our server wisely also brought the black pepper jam to cut some of the sweetness of the steak sauce. He said the meat was also perfectly cooked to the medium rare temperature he prefers. The gratin was satisfying without being greasy or heavy.

There were few desserts on the menu I could safely eat due to my allergy, but the trio of sorbet I ordered was delicious and not overly sweet. If I remember correctly, the flavors were passionfruit/banana, fig & red wine (?), and raspberry. After a few bites of sorbet I looked up and my husband was more than halfway through his warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream, so I took that as a sign that he liked it ;) Our server kindly brought a third dessert to the table after he found out we were celebrating my husband's birthday. It was a cheesecake with toasted coconut along with passionfruit sorbet. The cheesecake was light and airy and I would have eaten the whole thing if I hadn't already had most of my sorbet. I was disappointed that we left so much on the plate, but we were simply out of room at that point.

Service was extremely professional but warm and friendly at the same time. As a party of two, we sometimes find ourselves in and out of a restaurant in under an hour, even if we make a point to tell the server that we'd like to pace our meal and aren't in a rush. Looking back on our choices, we should have left feeling overly full but the pacing of the meal allowed us to leave feeling satisfied but comfortable. Overall, we really enjoyed all aspects of our experience at J & G. The $30 valet parking charge is another matter, but even that won't deter us from returning.

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My lunch at J&G this afternoon, my first visit, was really disappointing. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the reviews that raved about the non-steak offerings, but I was really in the mood for some red meat, so ordered a hangar steak, medium rare. I struggled, really struggled, to detect much flavor at all in this steak (the lack of any serious char on the outside didn't help). The accompanying fries were thin cut and seemed dried up...almost like they'd been cut hours and hours before? A green apple crisp for dessert was tart and refreshing, but the top should have been much crispier.

On the positive side, everyone I interacted with, from the smiling host at the front desk who walked me down to the wine bar (which I never would have found otherwise) to the bartender to the runners were all extremely nice and helpful. I also really enjoyed the Spanish red I had with the steak, an interesting blend from Xavier Clua. I'll be back to try other things, but will probably avoid steaks here unless I read that my experience was an aberration.

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Fantastic experience on our inaugural visit to J&G. My wife and I went Sat night for a belated birthday celebration and, save a few small hiccups, thoroughly enjoyed our experience start to finish.

After making our way thru the thump-thump of the club scene in the hotel lobby and feeling a more than a little un-hip, we were greeted by a phalanx of friendly hostesses, who showed us to our table. Upon sitting down, it became clear that this must have been one of the worst tables in the dining room. Tucked back into a corner adjacent to the server entrance to the kitchen, my wife and I found ourselves distracted by the nonstop flow of traffic passing within inches of our table thru the entire meal. It did make it easier to get our water refilled and it was quieter than being in the middle of the dining room but I do think we would have enjoyed the experience more at another table. As I mentioned, this was a minor hiccup.

Perusing the cocktail menu, I took notice of several interesting concoctions, mostly tweaks on classic cocktails and not overly contrived which was nice to see. I considered the Gibson or the Manhattan (with Rittenhouse rye) but settled on a Sazerac instead (with Rittenhouse rye, Pernod, Peychaud's bitters). I liked the drink, as I generally do, but I did find it not as smooth or as refined tasting as others I have had recently. Perhaps it was the whiskey, which I had not tried before. My wife was tempted by the Lychee Raspberry bellini but settled instead on a First Lady, which was cava, Campari, and Angostura bitters. She enjoyed it overall. I think it also had a sugar cube dissolving in the bottom of the flute to offset some of the bitterness of the Campari and bitters. We enjoyed our drinks very much as we perused the menu and munched on delicious bread served with room temperature butter

We ordered the crab cake appetizer as well as the fried calamari and both were fantastic. The crab cake was a sizable portion of big lumpy crab meat, minimally bound, nicely seasoned, loosely formed into a cake with crunchy exterior. Paired with the spicy pickled cucumbers on the side, the dish was sublime. Perhaps the crabcake itself could have been seasoned a bit more assertively but I give the kitchen credit for their discretion as it's often best to let the crab speak for itself. The calamari was equally impressive. Probably the most tender calamari we have tried, fried to a crisp with a delicate crunchy crust. A bite of calamari with a piece of jalapeno dipped in the yuzu dipping sauce was as impressive a rendering of this ubiquitous dish as I can remember.

Entrees arrived shortly thereafter, which was somewhat disappointing as we really wanted to order another cocktail but ran out of time. I ordered the seared cod entree. It came served on a bed of what I believe were fermented soybeans spiked with sriracha and accented with a scallion-chili sauce. The dish blew me away. Perfectly cooked cod, with nary a hint of fishiness, and a good kick of spice from the sriracha and chili sauce. Just fantastic. My wife ordered the slow cooked salmon, served on a bed of mashed potatoes. Again, rave reviews. But for a heavy hand with the salt shaker in the potatoes, the dish was excellent. Perfectly cooked salmon, creamy potatoes, and truffle vinaigrette. We paired these dishes with an albarino (me) and a pinot grigio (my wife). I was struck by the albarino - crisp, minerally, refreshing. The quartino-sized serving was perfect as well - seemingly between 1-2 glasses - it was the perfect amount to allow us to finish our meals without a lot of wine left over.

For dessert, we took the waiters advice and ordered the (also ubiquitous) molten chocolate cake and were not disappointed. The cake basically melted away into the pool of warm chocolate and paired perfectly with the scoop of vanilla ice cream. Decadent but worth it. We both ordered the Broadbent Madeira to round out the evening and found it a fitting end to a fantastic meal.

Service was friendly overall, though our server in particular could have been more attentive especially since he could not help but walk past our table dozens of times given its aformentioned proximity to the kitchen. We were asked on two different occasions if we were enjoying our evening by management types, which made me feel like they did value our business and we were bid farewell by the hostesses upon exiting. None of the minor gripes I brought up could take away from the fact that the food at J&G was top notch and made us feel like it was worth the price. The cooking here is impressive - we'll be back.

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Had my birthday dinner at J&G last Saturday. A beautiful dining room. An almost flawless evening except for the red velvet bench that I sat on. (Too low and too wide but a pillow helped and the restaurant provided two glasses of champagne for my husband and me.) Impeccable service all around. The fried calamari was incredibly tender and lightly tempura-ed. I will hesitate before I order that dish in other places now. No comparison. The asparagus risotto was not overly rich but very flavorful with reasonably sized pieces of asparagus. Veal chop was like butter. Lamb chops succulent. Molten chocolate was good - not the best we've eaten but still totally acceptable. We didn't have a bottle of wine but they had quartinos which were just the perfect size given that we had a drink and the champagne. Highly recommended!

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Had my birthday dinner at J&G last Saturday. A beautiful dining room. An almost flawless evening except for the red velvet bench that I sat on. (Too low and too wide but a pillow helped and the restaurant provided two glasses of champagne for my husband and me.) Impeccable service all around. The fried calamari was incredibly tender and lightly tempura-ed. I will hesitate before I order that dish in other places now. No comparison. The asparagus risotto was not overly rich but very flavorful with reasonably sized pieces of asparagus. Veal chop was like butter. Lamb chops succulent. Molten chocolate was good - not the best we've eaten but still totally acceptable. We didn't have a bottle of wine but they had quartinos which were just the perfect size given that we had a drink and the champagne. Highly recommended!

Sounds like we may have sat at the same table. An odd configuration - felt like I was sitting at a coffee table. They should do away with that table and make it a servers' station or something.

Agreed on the quartinos as well.

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I was lucky enough to get to attend a media dinner last night at J&G. Chef Reininger was debuting his new summer menu, and newly installed GM Steve Uhr (who came from Blue Duck Tavern) served as the gracious host.

Everything we sampled is on the regular menu, but this was of course a special event, so while I can say that the service and execution were flawless, please take that with a grain (a sizeable pinch?) of salt. Also flawless? The weather on the patio -- thank goodness. Surprisingly, it's a very quiet corner, probably because driving down 15th can be such a hassle, given that one has to do backflips to skirt the White House.

Anyway, rather than focus on an experience that isn't likely to be recreated on an average night, I would actually like to talk a little bit about the two men the dinner was meant to highlight.

Fairly often with "star chef" outposts, it's easy to focus on the name on the marquee and ascribe success or failure to that person and his/her participation (or lack thereof) in the restaurant. Sometimes that's warranted, but in this case, there is someone worth noticing in the kitchen. Chef Reininger is soft-spoken and appears to prefer to stay happily ensconced mostly behind the scenes, but his passion and commitment come through in his food. When he visited the table, it soon became apparent that he cares deeply about his craft; he opened up and was visibly more relaxed and gregarious when we engaged him in a conversation about the provenance of the yellow watermelon and the lamb he served. I hadn't had the chance to get to J&G before last night, but I very much want to return and see if, as was my impression last night, he's consistently putting out elegant, classic-with-hints-of-modern-twists food.

For his introduction as J&G's general manager, Mr. Uhr served as host and sommelier last night -- I believe he actually did the wine pairings with the dinner -- and was knowledgeable, gracious, friendly, and so completely on top of everything and in control that it was hard to believe he'd only been there a short time. The patio was fairly full last night, and it was amazing to watch him give the same level of attention to the customers scattered about as to our large party. A strong GM can contribute a lot to making a dining experience cross the line from good to great -- not that chefs and servers and the rest of the staff don't contribute, but a good GM, like a good stage manager, is the one responsible for the show, the one who makes sure the gears and cogs in the clock turn smoothly and with precision. Steve Uhr did an impressive job last night, and if this match lasts, it bodes well for J&G to continue to be a dining spot for people who care about service as much as food.

For the curious, the menu was as follows:

Watermelon and Goat Cheese, Cracked White Pepper, Olive Oil with a 2009 Boxwood Cabernet Franc rosé

Tuna Tartare, Ginger Dressing, Fresh Radish (this is on the online summer menu as salmon tartare) with a 2008 Viñedos de Ithaca 'Odysseus' Pedro Ximenez

Maine Lobster, Basil Butter, Corn and Potatoes with a 2007 Rochioli Sauvignon Blanc

Rack of Lamb, Green Chili and Mint, Sweet Pea Puree with a 2006 Duckhorn 'Goldeneye' Pinot Noir

Strawberries, Mint, Lime and Meringue, Sour Cream-Poppy Seed Sorbet with a nonvintage Lucien Albrech Brut Crémant d'Alsace rosé

All our courses were full-size, with the exception of the lobster (half instead of whole) and lamb (two chops instead of three). To that end, although the lobster and the lamb are the most expensive dishes on the menu, I can absolutely recommend the lamb (Australian, if you're wondering), cooked perfectly medium rare with a vibrant green chili and mint panko crust. The chops came out tender and flavorful without any gaminess, and the herbal, piquant crust hit all the right complementary/contrasting notes. The tartare was also lovely, with nice heat from the ginger and radish; I felt the lobster could have benefited from a more even application of the basil butter, and I would have liked more of the pea puree with the lamb, too. The Rochioli sauvignon blanc was one of my favorite pairings of the night, contrasting the butter on the lobster, and the butteriness of the lobster, with a nice acidity and minerality, but the pinot noir was definitely the wine of the evening, earthy (even mushroomy) without being tannic and harsh. I guess I like French rosés better than Virginian ones, though, because the Boxwood really didn't impress me much, and the goat cheese in the salad overwhelmed it.

DarthJim got to eat lunch at J&G not long after it opened when he was interviewing for summer jobs, and I was distinctly jealous (I'm pretty sure I brown-bagged leftover salad that day). Well, now we're even, so the next step will be to go back on our own dime, and find out if it holds up.

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Went last night with a group of 7 for a birthday. Had a great time. The service was outstanding--flawless in fact. Sometimes we refilled our own wine glasses but I like that anyway, especially since we had different people with different budgets participating in some bottles and not others--that's tough on the waiter. Like everyone says, you have to get the calimari. You think it's going to be standard fried calamari, how boring, but theirs is the best version of fried calamari around. A couple raw oysters, a taste of scallop app and a taste of the bacon wrapped shrimp (I must find their bacon source) were all fantastic.

Star entrees were the short rib and lamb rack. I don't know what the preparations were exactly, as I was nibbling from neighbor's plates, but they were delicious. My medium rare hangar steak with frites was just right, nice char, tender, seasoned well. I dig the fake marrow bone ketchup and steak sauce "ramekins."

I can't say enough about the service. Our man Omar was there every time we needed him and never in the way when we didn't. We got a little side room to ourselves which was nice. I don't know if they have a video camera so he knew when to come in, but even if they did, he timed everything just right.

I'm no steakhouse expert, in fact I usually want to go somewhere else because I tend to think they are overpriced and boring. J&G was not. The experience there blew away the others I have been to, and is the only one I want to go back to.

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Seared Halibut ($22) with bright-red scallion-chili sauce, basil, and celery reaffirmed this kitchen's ability to cook seafood, and was also a bold statement in fusing (sorry) eastern and western flavors. A delightfully fun and assertive dish, the fire cooled by a glass of chilled Mont Marcal Cava Rosado ($9).

***

Thing is, I was so emotionally drained by my meal last night at our 4th Best Restaurant that I needed to ground myself in simple street fare. Drained not by the meal itself (I've had worse meals, even this week), but because I've been toggling back-and-forth between issuing a methodical trashing of what was, at best, a banquet-quality dinner, and more accurately, something no better than you'd get when ordering room service...

I assume the seared halibut with scallion chili sauce is still a safe bet? I made a reservatiuon awhile back to meet a friend there this weekend. I've never been to J&G so I think I'm going to keep the reservation and give this place a shot. I don't really expect much, just hoping for non-redmeat edible food. BTW, the online menu has the halibut at $28. They really raised the price by 27% in this economy?

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I assume the seared halibut with scallion chili sauce is still a safe bet? I made a reservatiuon awhile back to meet a friend there this weekend. I've never been to J&G so I think I'm going to keep the reservation and give this place a shot. I don't really expect much, just hoping for non-redmeat edible food. BTW, the online menu has the halibut at $28. They really raised the price by 27% in this economy?

they have raised the price by about this much on many items where i buy my food in this economy. i think our total check for two was pushing $300 at my last visit in may, but the food was much better than merely edible.

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I assume the seared halibut with scallion chili sauce is still a safe bet? I made a reservatiuon awhile back to meet a friend there this weekend. I've never been to J&G so I think I'm going to keep the reservation and give this place a shot. I don't really expect much, just hoping for non-redmeat edible food. BTW, the online menu has the halibut at $28. They really raised the price by 27% in this economy?

Halibut prices have been up considerably this year since the beginning of the season in March, according to this article; the cost increase could well be because it's simply more expensive to buy--even more than the 27% increase in the entree price you cite.

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Halibut prices have been up considerably this year since the beginning of the season in March, according to this article; the cost increase could well be because it's simply more expensive to buy--even more than the 27% increase in the entree price you cite.

Just an FYI: Right now Halibut from Prime Seafood is 11 a pound or under. H&G. THe lowest its been this season was 8.50. With a 60% yield, the filets right now are about $18.33 and witha 75% yield its about $14.67.

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There were several entree dishes I wanted to try last night but I ended up with the halibut - it was a nicely seared piece of fish and I liked the scallion chili sauce. The oysters were on the small side and the cheddar jalepeno fritters had no discernable heat or jalepeno. I rank J&G up there with the other upscale steakhouses (maybe a little higher because they have more seafood but my favorite in the area remains Bourbon Steak).

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Quick Scallion-Chili Sauce update - - Halibut is off ("out of season" per the server) and Cod is on! (priced at lunch, I THINK, at $21 (feels too dear but is a steal compared to the $28 quoted above for the halibut). I tell you, even on second tasting, this sauce is well-worth the visit no matter WHAT they put it on. Another very pleasant thing about J&G (especially after a LOUD lunch at Siroc yesterday) is that, at least today with a pretty sparse crowd, you can converse with your lunch companion without having to shout.

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Despite its (relatively) low ranking on the DR dining guide, I decided to take a friend to lunch at J&G Steakhouse today. She's in from another country, and a desolate one at that, and I wanted to take her somewhere with a range of price points and high-quality proteins because I don't know her taste that well.

It was... fine. I had the crabcake sandwich (sans bread because although I'm very pro-carb, I find that crabcakes fall apart like sloppy joes when smushed in bread, which also dilutes the crab flavor). It was nice, with big chunks of good crab. The filler was mostly a mayo sauce, which I liked, though it did include a random piece of bread the size of a pair of dice. The fries were okay, the sauce served on the side was good, and the slightly pickled cucumber relish was delicious. My companion really enjoyed her salmon salad, and our lattes were nice.

But the service was just weird. The outdoor hostess sent me inside (down some steps then up some steps then around a corner), and then the indoor hostess sent me back outside; I told the outdoor lady I'd prefer the patio if we could be in the shade, at which point we were seated in the sun. The server tried to upsell us 1) cocktails, 2) a bottle of wine, 3) dessert, and 4) after-lunch drinks (I don't mean just asking if we wanted them, but really, really pushing them; he was also really pushing the sauv blanc--from before we knew what we were going to order to after we asked for suggestions on what would pair best with our meals--"the sauvignon blanc would be excellent!"). He was there and interrupting when we didn't need him and vanished when we did (it took over 30 minutes between the time I asked for the check and the time he returned my receipt).

So while I appreciate a nice lunch place near my office (god save me from any more Aria and Chef Geoff's), $77 (pre-tip) for two glasses of wine, two entrees, and two coffee drinks will probably deter me from laying out for it again any time soon.

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