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8407 Kitchen Bar, Silver Spring Metro - Chef Oscar Jimenez Moves Up From Sous Chef - Closed in Oct, 2017


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had a lovely dinner last night at 8407 in celebration of my mother-in-law's 82nd birthday. My husband and I shared tempura fried goat cheese stuffed pappadew peppers with chive puree and toasted sunflower seeds. These were very lightly fried with the perfect amount of heat (both temperature and spice). The sauce wasn't excessive, but I wanted to soak up every last drop on the plate. My entree was red curry seafood stew. I was not in the mood for anything heavy or fussy, and this dish perfectly fit the bill.

I asked our server who the current chef is and he wouldn't say. Apparently they aren't prepared to name him until he transitions the menu to reflect more of his own cooking. I actually guessed who it is, but I won't reveal it. Clearly the restaurant isn't ready and the server actually asked me not to say anything- not even knowing that I blog, tweet, and participate on this board. I can't imagine that they won't announce who it is shortly, as it should be a draw- assuming I guessed correctly.

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I asked our server who the current chef is and he wouldn't say. Apparently they aren't prepared to name him until he transitions the menu to reflect more of his own cooking. I actually guessed who it is, but I won't reveal it. Clearly the restaurant isn't ready and the server actually asked me not to say anything- not even knowing that I blog, tweet, and participate on this board. I can't imagine that they won't announce who it is shortly, as it should be a draw- assuming I guessed correctly.

Todd Kliman broke the news on Twitter so now I can say it. New chef is Ed Witt, formerly of 701.

Good for you, Lori, for having the integrity to honor the restaurant's wishes.

As much as I'd like to say otherwise, I've found that, contrary to what might be intuitive, there has been absolutely *no* reward or payoff for showing loyalty to restaurants in terms of withholding stories such as this. None.

I've tried, and tried, and tried, to show restaurants respect by honoring their wishes, and unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that it is in the reporter's best personal interest to go ahead and break stories, even if it goes against a restaurant's wishes. Maybe it really *is* better to be feared than respected, or, maybe, just maybe, fear creates respect.

I still won't do it just because I consider honor and valor to be more important than power, but my advice to bloggers who are looking to advance their careers? You owe the restaurants *nothing*. As harsh as that might sound, it is an opinion that has been formed by years of personal observation and experience. Silence leads to nothing but obscurity.

Nevertheless, you've earned my respect, for whatever that's worth.

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Yes, it's out there:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-gurus/post/8407-kitchen-bar-hires-former-701-chef-ed-witt/2013/01/07/c8029394-56af-11e2-bf3e-76c0a789346f_blog.html

I stopped by this evening for a beer at the downstairs bar and ordered the grilled octopus app (w/ salsify, salsa verde), which is one of the new items attributable to Mr. Witt. It was fantastic -- one of the best dishes I've tasted lately. Looking forward to dinner here later this week.

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Say hi next time :)

Was in the lower bar area too for happy hour and to meet up with a friend.

I also tried one of the new dinner dishes introduced by Ed, the Pan Roasted Grouper w/ Celery Root Puree, Pickled Kumquats, Wild Mushrooms, Tarragon and Cardamon Crumble. Well executed fish, good flavors but perhaps somewhat subtle / nuanced. Was distracted by beer so perhaps I'll try again sometime. Liked it though.

On the current menu the other new items are House-Made Chervil Linguini w/ Sautéed Wild Mushrooms and Truffled Percorino. Almost got that instead but was in the mood for something heartier.

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Good meal with great service (Beca?) and interesting, well prepared food. Deviled eggs and smoked salmon to start with gnocchi (good not great) and duck confit for mains. Side of the duck fat fries-divinely sinful. No desserts. Interesting and well chosen wines decently priced given it's in MOCO. It was busy but not too loud and a nice space. We will return.

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I'm here! If anyone knows me well they know I suck at computers, so it's taken me a while to take the time to get my email set up. And then I gotta get pictures taken and make up a bio to make me sound cooler and smarter then I actually am. I'm about 90% finished with the menu(at least for a few weeks) and running specials whenever I can. Tomorrow infact we have crepes stuffed with beef cheek ragu and black and blue cheese with a super rich Demi, roasted pheasant with sherry sauce, and a pork porterhouse classicly done with sweet potato purée, pecans and a bourbon sauce. I'm really trying to get back what I lost sight of at pilar(vision, drive, all that). All our meats and fish are brined. All the veggies from area farms. All sausages made in house. Bacon, brioche at brunch. And best of all I have a really great team. My two sous chefs work incredibly hard and have amazing attitudes. And I can finally use oysters on the half shell! Which I love as much as any chef. Anyway yes I'm here, Tuesday-Saturday night. If you look closely at the menu you'll see a shit ton of pork which should have been a hint ;)

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Had a few small plates at the bar on Thursday evening with my favorite being the outstanding pork belly with peach barbecue sauce. It was some of the best pork belly I've had in a while -- perfectly moist, really tender (when so often it can be chewy), and good fat rendering that melted in your mouth. House-smoked salmon was also quite excellent.

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I took my brother to lunch here for his birthday yesterday. I had the duck confit salad and he had the pulled pork sandwich. Both hit the spot. It's a good place for this because it's very close to his office; it's quiet enough at lunchtime that we can do our annual catching-up chat; and, the food is really good.

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I'm here! If anyone knows me well they know I suck at computers, so it's taken me a while to take the time to get my email set up. And then I gotta get pictures taken and make up a bio to make me sound cooler and smarter then I actually am. I'm about 90% finished with the menu(at least for a few weeks) and running specials whenever I can. Tomorrow infact we have crepes stuffed with beef cheek ragu and black and blue cheese with a super rich Demi, roasted pheasant with sherry sauce, and a pork porterhouse classicly done with sweet potato purée, pecans and a bourbon sauce. I'm really trying to get back what I lost sight of at pilar(vision, drive, all that). All our meats and fish are brined. All the veggies from area farms. All sausages made in house. Bacon, brioche at brunch. And best of all I have a really great team. My two sous chefs work incredibly hard and have amazing attitudes. And I can finally use oysters on the half shell! Which I love as much as any chef. Anyway yes I'm here, Tuesday-Saturday night. If you look closely at the menu you'll see a shit ton of pork which should have been a hint ;)

Have always been a fan of 8407, but this post has it back high up on my radar. Time for a return visit. Once I wipe the drool off of my face.

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Based on two visits since Justin took over the kitchen, he is doing good work. We've enjoyed the pork loin, duck duo (confit/seared breast), lamb shank and salmon preparations. Some of the accompaniments to the proteins are particularly notable: the celeriac/cauliflower puree that comes with the salmon and the mushroom farrow that comes with the duck are really good. I think portions have become more generous, relative to the previous regime. If the trend continues over future visits, I'll be lobbying the powers that be to elevate this restaurant to the top of the Silver Spring pecking order.

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Ha! What an amazing day! I came in at prime cost finally after relentlessly redoing everything, and it's an honor to be at the top of the silver spring list. Some downsides to today are I lost my caterpillar hat at home and I drank way too much espresso, but all in all fantastic day! I'll be drinking at Main Street sports grill tonight, Don that's Oliver's to you. Thanks y'all!!

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My dinner group had a great large (24) party dinner at 8407 last Friday. Many folks were 1st timers to the restaurant.

Food on the whole was getting nice complements. Highlights were especially the Crispy Confit Pork Belly (starter -- loved the light vinegar to contrast the richness), Duck Duo and the desserts (special comments on the Ginger Cheesecake). There was some notable comments on the pastas though. The Squid Ink Taglietelle w/ Sauteed Carolina Shrimp & Saffron Crème was thought to be quite understated in flavor overall. I had this dish and thought that, along with another diner at another table who felt similarly. The other pasta in question was with the Gnocchi with Butternut Squash. The squash to one diner felt was not fully cooked to their expectation. To be fair they chose to not send the dish back nor asked the server for clarification on that dish. But as I said, food overall was well-received and factoring a 24-person party they did a great job. Service was excellent, nicely paced with being attentive but not overly so.

Excellent post-event comments, definitely a successful outing. I'm looking forward to seeing how the menu evolves this winter.

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Anyway yes I'm here, Tuesday-Saturday night. If you look closely at the menu you'll see a shit ton of pork which should have been a hint ;)

I took the hint and dined at 8407 Kitchen Bar last night.  I had the seared pork loin with chorizo-sweet potato hash.  Wow! the pork was incredibly tender and the flavors in this dish are bold and bright.  absolutely loved it.  My friends had salmon or rockfish and were equally blown away by the flavors and skilled preparation of the fish.  We've dined together at 8407 on a number of occasions, when various chefs have been in the kitchen.  This was by a mile the best meal we've had at 8407.  Congratulations, Chef Bittner.  Can't wait to visit again!

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Was at 8407 about 2-3 weeks ago (and once again had the perfectly cooked pork belly appetizer) and didn't notice any differences in the menu, but this just popped up on their Twitter/Facebook feed.

Yet another new chef for the place?

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Don's report jives with what I've discovered recently. But call me "Captain Oblivious." I didn't realize there was ownership commonality between these two restaurants until this appeared on the 8407KB Facebook page recently:

I'm keeping an open mind but I'm worried that the dumbing down will continue and they will lose others of their excellent staff. Apparently the departure of Nancy, the former GM who was very dear to us, was the first warning sign (Captain Oblivious didn't realize it unit now).

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Wait a minute ... Don, are you sure it was a lunch buffet? I had heard recently (2-3 months ago) that the Sunday brunch had been converted to a buffet.

Could be - that part of the letter I left unedited, so your guess is as good as mine. BTW, my impression reading the letter was that it was a weekend brunch - I don't know *why* that was my impression, but it was.

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Weekday lunch quality has not diminished, and I went just a couple of weeks ago.There WAS no weekday lunch buffet then. Must be Sunday brunch.

I had lunch at 8407 today and didn't see a buffet either. They were busy with Restaurant Week diners and apologetic about the time lags between courses.

My choices included the sweet corn soup (summer!), sirloin (with a bordelaise sauce that smacked more of soy sauce than wine reduction), and what my server assured me was Dolci Gelati sorbet. Their RW lunch menu was diverse enough to be crowd pleasing.

Too bad 8407's website hasn't been updated in some time. It would probably help drive business if prospective diners were able to preview their RW dinner menu.

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He called me back that Monday and said it's better if I just go - we're losing business because of service issues, and all the comments are about the horrid buffet and ..." [and that's where the story should end.]

Service issues are what happens when you push out quality employees and others leave because they see the writing on the wall.

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Just got back after taking my brother here for his annual birthday lunch. We got the same booth as we've had for three or four times now and still had the same waiter. (I wish I had asked his name--when I exclaimed that he was still there, he said "Where else would I go?" I should have told him "Any of the numerous new restaurants who are in desperate need of trained servers." But I'm not that quick-witted, alas.)

The lunch menu is quite a bit smaller than I remembered and there was no Duck Confit.  :( There were mussels, however, so I ordered those. My brother got the steak sandwich. I should have asked him how it was, but didn't and he didn't voice any complaint. The mussels were small and kind of shriveled, and there wasn't much sauce in the pot. I've had better mussels for less money at any number of places. The fries were fine. The bread basket was quite nice; but, I just found the food to lack the "finesse" that used to be a hallmark of this place. Because I mentioned that it was his birthday, the waiter showed up with a piece of bread pudding with a candle in it and two forks. That was an unexpected treat that we didn't manage to finish between the two of us.

We each had a glass of wine--one Malbec and a Dr. Loosen Riesling. Nothing to complain about there. The bill came to $51 and change before the tip.

I can't speak to dinner here, because I've only been for lunch. It remains the nicest place close to my brother's place of work and has never been very busy when we've been there. It's always been easy to converse there and catch up on the goings-on with his family. So, as long as my brother doesn't want to take the Metro into town (which he has done in the past), we will likely be there next year at this time--he won't be able to retire until his daughter graduates from college.

I've long given up hope that The Classics would open for lunch.

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I was worried when a friend suggested 8407 for NYE dinner because of the staff changes, but wanted to go with the flow so despite the jacked up prices (an additional $1-4 per appetizer or entree) and a limited menu I agreed to go and was pleasantly surprised overall. It was pretty dead the entire evening so our party of 10 had no trouble getting cocktails at the bar (I had a really tasty whiskey cocktail from their "craft cocktail" list that I can't remember the name of) or being seated on time.

We ordered both appetizers for ourselves and apps to share so I got to taste a fair amount. The beef tartare I ordered was delicious after I requested and added a healthy dose of salt. Calamari was on point, tender with a light, crisp coating and a salsa verde dipping sauce. The chicken liver pate seemed to be the table favorite and was really outstanding - melt in your mouth smooth and well seasoned. Bone marrow was also well done, but in my opinion also helped by a touch of salt (not so glaringly underseasoned as the tartare though).

Entree choices were limited. None of us were interested in the surf and turf (filet and crabcake) or the salmon, and the scallops served over pasta didn't seem to appeal either. That left the table divided between the duck and steak dishes, with a few ordering the vegetarian gnocchi. The duck dish is on the current menu, a seared breast alongside a confited leg served over Burmese red rice, haricot verts and a butternut squash veloute. Aside from the dry leg (how can confit be dry? So sad), I enjoyed this dish. The breast was a perfect medium rare and frankly the rice was surprisingly delicious, possibly the star. I would happily order this dish again in the hopes that the confit was as it should be. The steak was a bit of a different story. It's the preparation currently on the menu - a pretty standard dish of mashed potatoes, asparagus, onion and red wine sauce - with ribeye subbed in for strip that night. The components of the dish were all well done. The problem was that these were the thinnest ribeyes I've encountered in a restaurant setting and the result was steaks that were cooked medium to medium well when they had been ordered medium rare. A real disappointment at $40 a plate and I was very glad I had decided on the duck. I didn't taste the gnocchi or hear anyone's feedback so can't report on that dish other than to say it was a generous portion.

I was pretty full, but wanted a mouthful of something sweet so I ordered the eggnog "sorbet" for dessert. The server swore up and down that it was sorbet, not gelato, but we were all mystified by how that would be possible. Easily confirmed on the Dolci gelati website after the fact that it was indeed gelato and not sorbet, which for someone who is sensitive to dairy isn't thrilling. Thankfully I wasn't that enamored with it so I didn't eat much.

Overall I really enjoyed the meal. Our service was good, but not great throughout. In particular he seemed troubled when we opted to order appetizers without also placing our entree orders. In retrospect, seeing how dead they were by the time we finished and the fact that they had shut down both bars by then, I suspect he wanted to get us out of there and get on with his NYE, but it was a bit off putting how he dealt with it. Other than that, having to flag him down for a drink order here or there, and the gelato issue things went smoothly. All in all an enjoyable evening with for the most part very well done food. I am happy that the food quality doesn't seem to have suffered, at least based on this one meal.

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I tend to avoid dinner out on NYE for a number of reason, but went to the same party as Choirgirl and had a great time.  She covered it all well so only a couple comments from me.

1) Someone owes me for the bet on the "sorbet" which I just found out about.  Eggnog sorbet is an illogical concept.  I should have wagered more.

2) The ribeyes were pounded out, not sliced thin. Why, I have no idea.  They were about 8 feet long and a quarter inch thick.  Enormous chicken fried steak cuts, really.  Everything was still tasty but they certainly weren't medium rare and the only way they could be would be the backwards slow heat quick sear method which these were not.  Any other night I would have sent back in a split second, but this was more a party than a dinner, in a way.

3) Choirgirl is being unusually gentle about the server.  He was awful.   I'm sympathetic as I waited/bartended on more than my share of NYE's but that's life as a server, you get to the party late or not at all.

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The owner dumbed it down a few years ago in a cost-cutting move. He got rid of or forced out the excellent GM, Nancy, and the last chef who made the restaurant chef-driven. Others on the staff headed for the door. The menu then became nearly set in stone, with little variation. We had only dined there maybe 2 or 3 times since the massacre and, though I'm sad for folks who work there now, we won't miss it. 

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Went about a month ago and it was a shadow of its former self (which I was expecting and would not have gone had it not been for a birthday destination not of our choosing). Rushed, cold service. Sit-down chain level food. I was actually surprised that the dining room was as (half) full as it was. 

Drinks at the bar pleasant enough and that space still has some potential. Shame it's now facing that horrible, depressing transit center and not a more vibrant development. 

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