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Water & Wall, Chef John Leavitt on Fairfax Drive in Virginia Square - Closed


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It's too soon to break this news, but unfortunately, ARLnow.com got ahold of public records, and is going to break the story if I don't. So, with the blessings of Tim Ma and Joey Hernandez ...

Tim and Joey, the owners of Maple Ave. Restaurant in Vienna, will be opening Water & Wall at 3811 N. Fairfax Drive in Virginia Square (in the old Pines of Florence space).

"Water and Wall" is the intersection of where Tim and Joey lived in New York City when Tim was attending the French Culinary Institute, and interning at Momofuku Ko.

In Joey's words, "It was in that building that we started to draft our ideas of owning a restaurant. We created menus there, created dishes there, etc. So, essentially, it was where the dream was born."

The style of cuisine, and values of the restaurant, will carry over from Maple Ave. Restaurant, but Water and Wall will have its own identity.

There is no word at all on an opening date, although it may well be in 2013. Tim and I talked about some of his culinary visions awhile back, but things are just too nascent and dynamic to even discuss.

So I'm sorry this news is out so soon, but I'm happy to say congratulations, both to Tim and Joey, and also to the residents of Virginia Square.

Cheers,
Rocks

P.S., also in Joey's own words: "In terms of Maple Ave: Our sous chef Nyi Nyi Mint will take over tomorrow as Chef De Cuisine. Nyi Nyi will also help out with Water & Wall. Nyi Nyi was trained by David Thompson, chef and creator of Nahm in London. Nyi Nyi also spent time in London's Hakkasan before it was bought out by corporate. Tim will continue to be the Executive Chef for Maple Ave."

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Water and Wall is getting close to opening!  They have updates on their Facebook page.

An EaterDC article in September said Nov. 1 was the scheduled opening date, and in this Oct. 25 Zagat preview interview with Tim Ma and Joey Hernandez, Tim Ma says the target date is [still] Nov. 1!

I'm looking forward to trying Water and Wall when it opens, especially because I haven't been able to try Maple Ave Restaurant yet.

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Opening on Sat, Nov. 2 via Northern Virginia Magazine.  They also have the menu.

Vienna Patch has name-dropped donrockwell.com in their article on the new restaurant.

This is great news for the residents of Virginia Square.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out by now, I'm grateful when media outlets name-drop us. It's the correct and professional thing to do, and something that I will always aspire to, in terms of accrediting my fellow journalists for their original work.

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Anyone been to this place yet?

 

Taking Don's advice from my question in the "help needed" forum, my wife and I stopped by this place last night.  We had very limited time between work and a 7 pm commitment so we only got drinks and apps.

There were lots of parking spots available on the street and we parked directly in front of the place.  Surprising for a Friday night I thought.  We got there a little after 6 (in time for free parking) and left a little after 7.  The place looked fairly empty, but we were there early and stayed only in the bar area.  When you walk in, there's a 10 or so seats at the bar and a few low tables with seating for another 10 or so.  The main restaurant is to the right of the door/bar area and we never went in there so I'm not sure what what happening in there.

The service was great - very friendly, casual, fun and attentive.  Our main server was the bartender but we also interacted with a couple other women (hostess and manager maybe?).  They were all very hot!  ;-)  When we sat down our server/bartender asked if she could check our coats and we said no thanks, but a couple minutes later my wife's coat slipped off the chair next to her and when she picked it up to stuff it in the corner, the hostess noticed this and ran over and asked if she could check it for us.  Nice catch on her part!  A little later in the meal, a third woman (manager?) stopped by and asked how our food was and if the wings were too hot.  I sort of joked that they could be hotter and she immediately offered to bring out some hotter sauce.  It wasn't at all necessary, and we had a nice chat about the place and how they are going to expanding the menu and offering new dishes.

The menu itself was pretty small.  You can see it on their site, but there were only maybe 10 entrees and 10 apps.  (just checked....it's actually 9 of each).  They also had an additional appetizer and main course special that was not on the menu.  Actually the menu online is similar but different to the one we saw last night.

Since our time was short, we only ordered apps, but they had happy hour specials on 3 apps and a couple mixed drinks and a few whites, reds and one rose.  They all looked to be about half price from the regular menu.

We got the octopus special which was good, but not as tender as the most recent one I had at Kapnos.  We also got the steak frites with truffle aioli, chicken wings with your typical buffalo wing sauce spruced up with creme fraiche, and the sweet breads.  The sweet breads were served on a bed of relish and covered with the (now) very spicy wing sauce (this time without the creme fraiche).  It was a very interesting combo that worked well.  The sweet breads themselves were melt in your mouth delicious......they could be "tongue chewed".  No teeth required!  They were my favorite dish of the night.

Four glasses of wine and four appetizers only cost us 63 bucks before tip (happy hour pricing) but because of the great service the meal ended up being just shy of $80!   ;-)

This is not really a convenient area for us to get to, and it's not close to home, but if I'm ever in the area again, I'd make a effort to go back.  Two thumbs up!

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I went there on Saturday with a couple I know.  We arrived early at five pm and the place wasn't crowded but there were some people at the bar.  We shared a sweet potato gnocchi small plate which was fine.  I had the bouliabasse which was a nice dish of various sea foods which was, true to the menu's warning, spicy and hot, a tribute to the chef's Thai background.  The couple got a duck confit and hanger steak which they said was good.  I do know that the Post's critics recommended both.  The wine is served in water glasses.  When we left, the place was crowded and there were quite a few groups of young women dining together.  The restaurant has ample street parking, free after six, and is very close to both the Virginia Square and Ballston Metro stops.

The name Water and Wall comes from the intersection near where the chef/owner lived in New York.

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Went with a large group on Monday night.  We got there early (5:30 PM) and it was President's Day and there was snow on the ground, so we had the run of the restaurant for a while.  Service was great, I would say it was nearly perfect.  Food was close to that level as well, particularly the sweetbreads, duck confit and pecan shortbread.  Bar was limited, but had good choices.  Limited selection on the wine list as well, but again, pretty good choices (although I always want a larger wine list).

When it comes down to it, this is the best restaurant that I have been to all year at this point.  I won't say that it is at the top level of restaurants in the area, but it isn't trying to be that either.  Almost perfect for what it is.

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We've had two top-notch dinners here, one several months ago, one a couple of weeks ago.  I highly recommend it.  Food was delicious and inventive, service was excellent.

Most recently, I had two appetizers for my dinner:  potato gnocchi with English peas, morels, and crème fraiche as a starter, and softshell crab in cornmeal tempura with spinach, old bay aioli and pickled ramps as my second course.  The gnocchi were tender, the peas were not cooked to mush but more al dente and were bursting with fresh flavor (much better than I've managed to get at the grocery store - I love English peas but it's hard to find them fresh or young enough to be sweet), and the morels were lovely and deep-tasting.  A terrific starter.

The softshell was great - very lightly battered and with a crisp coating, on the small side but I didn't mind.  The vegetables complemented it very well, and I am not a fan of Old Bay (I feel it overwhelms the sweet crab taste) but in aioli it's the first time I've liked it with crab, since the spices were much milder when balanced with the aioli.

My husband had the mixed green salad with blueberries, goat cheese, candied walnuts, and sherry vinaigrette, which was delicious (really good goat cheese and blueberries), and beef brisket with cheerwine sauce, smoked whipped potatoes, and mustard greens (nicely peppery tasting to complement the richness of the meat and potatoes).  He didn't leave any behind, and I thoroughly enjoyed my bite.

For dessert, he had the peanut butter chocolate tart with graham cracker crust, chocolate ganache, and peanut butter mousse, which he said was terrific.  It looked wonderful (I'm not eating chocolate so I didn't try it).  I had my only mild disappointment of the night, a shortbread with butterscotch that isn't on the online menu - the butterscotch sauce was marvelous but the shortbread itself was rather dry, as shortbread tends to be (the ice cream on top helped).

One tiny caveat, as I'm usually a mocktail/nonalcoholic drink recommender -- their nonalcoholic sodas are Fentiman's, which were great, but turn out to have a small amount of alcohol in them (so small as to be allowed to be marked as nonalcoholic).  Not a problem for most people, but if you really need to avoid alcohol as I do, it's a problem.  Next time I'll see what kind of mocktail they can make, and I bet it'll be a good one.

So if you're anywhere near the Virginia Square area, definitely eat here!!

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Ate here this past weekend and was very impressed.  I began with a cocktail that I can honestly say was the best I've ever had- "moonshine," truffle oil, honey, and mint.  Worth the trip from the Maryland suburbs just for this.  But wait- the food is also destination worthy.  I had a starter of seared diver scallops with yuzu, dashi, and cucumber-daikon noodles, which were perfectly cooked and a generously portioned.  For an entree- harissa marinated lamb top sirloin. The sous vide meat was incredibly tender, the flavors unbelievably good.  What makes it all the more impressive are the prices.  Lamb at $22?  I consider it a bargain.  I became a fan of Chef Tim Ma after a visit to Maple Ave. Water and Wall is a bit more formal, but equally appealing.  

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This place was fairly busy for a Sunday night, but for the price and quality it should be busier.  I myself am at fault for not visiting previously.  I have been trying to get there but other places have just come up.  I love the decor on the inside.  That is something hard to gauge from the outside with the tinted windows, but the inside is really lovely.

We got a bottle of wine, Sunday and Monday is 1/2 price bottle of wine nights.  I had the scallops with dashi and yuzu and cucumber noodles.  This dish wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was very good and refreshing.  It could have used a bit more dashi and yuzu flavor though.  the scallops were perfect though and I really liked the "noodles" made out of cucumber.  I also had the softshell crab with spinach and old bay aioli.  This was a great dish, the softshell was prepared perfectly, not too much crust, not fried too much.  It was excellent.  I like the spinach and aioli with it, as well, I thought all the flavors melded well.  Hubby had the five spice chicken, which was a really good dish.  The black rice was so good and the chicken was juicy with great flavor.  I always love it when a restaurant can make chicken shine.  Especially when they have chicken preparations I wouldn't make at home.  The rice was just so good.  We ended with a really good chocolate, peanut butter tart and strawberry shortcake.  Both were excellent.  Our final bill with tip was a little over $100 which I think is very reasonable for bottle of wine, 2 apps, 1 entree and 2 desserts, especially given the quality.  I will be back here.  In fact, I would really like to arrange a DR dinner here.  I think it would be a great place for us, as the apps and entrees I think are very reasonable for the price.

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In fact, I would really like to arrange a DR dinner here.  I think it would be a great place for us, as the apps and entrees I think are very reasonable for the price.   

Do it on a Sunday or Monday night - they're right off the Virginia Square Metro and wines would be half-price. Tim would be happy to design a menu for us - just let me know.

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I stumbled on this place for a quick early dinner a few months ago. It was so good I have been back twice since. Great bar service. Startlingly inexpensive dinner specials (at the bar). Possibly the best duck confit I have had in the region. To my mind this is the most unappreciated restaurant in Arlington if not perhaps even wider afield. 

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I have only been here for brunch twice but happy with my experiences both times. The second time I found out that they don't do their prix fixe brunch tasting menu any more but ended up getting a starter and a main and it was enough and not too much food. I got the charcuterie plate and Texas French toast; my friend got mussels and crabcake eggs Benedict. My charcuterie was about five small slices of duck proscuitto (nothing wrong with it, tasty) and a little ramekin of chicken liver mousse that I could have eaten all day. I wanted to scrape the last bits up and lick the dish. Accompaniments were three long toast points, a dollop of grainy mustard, thin slices of dill pickle and pickled ramps. My French toast was three sliced of thin bread seasoned with cinnamon and garnished with a berry compote and served with three slices of excellent bacon and a pot of maple syrup. I finished everything and it was just right. I sampled a mussel that was steamed in PBR and corn with bacon - nothing wrong there. The crab cake egg Benedict was just that - one large crabcake, one poached runny egg. It looked really good. We shared two French presses of coffee that got really strong as I got to the end and so there was a fair amount of sludge on the bottom of my mug but otherwise, no complaints. I have vowed to come back for dinner sometime soon - maybe a DR dinner, hmmm?

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Based on what I'm seeing here, my first experience at Water & Wall was an anomaly in both food and service.

Went in for brunch on Sunday around 12:45pm. We stood around for a few minutes since no one was at the host stand. When someone finally appeared, we were asked to have a seat at the bar because they had run out of menus. (But I could see brunch menus in the rack...) We indicated that we were still waiting for one person to complete our party of three and that we would prefer to just be seated at our table and could wait for menus there. I (hopefully?) jokingly said, "Well, I don't need a menu to know I'd like some coffee..." We were seated at a large banquette in the far corner of the restaurant. Our third person arrived several minutes later and we still hadn't been acknowledged by anyone. The person who seated us came back with water and said, "You said something about a coffee?" After a conversation about the iced (bottled? Huh?) coffee versus hot (French press), we ordered hot.

A different person came to take our food order. There was some delay when the server told us there was only one order of French toast left (and two of the party wanted that) and she went to the kitchen to double check. We ended up ordering:

French Texas Toast | Berry Compote | Grade A Maple Syrup | Applewood Bacon $10

Not very Texas Toast-y. There were three halves of normal sized bread, two slices of (kind of sad looking) bacon and a fruit topping that seemed mostly pieces of fruit, not sauce. Syrup was not included when the food was brought to the table (by a runner, not the person who seated us or our server), but quickly appeared when we asked our server. We didn't understand how they could have run out of the dish already when the portion size seemed so small. Overall, disappointing. (Full disclosure: I did not try this dish as I am not a huge fan of French toast.)

Crab Cake Benedict | MD Lump Crab Cake | Poached Egg | Hollandaise $12

Side of Potato Hash $4

This dish included one crab cake on a half an English muffin, two poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce, because no sides came with the dish, we ordered a side of potato hash. The crab cake was good, but not great and the eggs were just a hair underdone for my taste. (There were bits of the white that weren't opaque.) I thought the Hollandaise sauce had a bright, citrusy flavor. The hash didn't include peppers or onions or anything else, but were fine. I only mention that it was just potatoes because in my mind that's not hash, it's home fries. But that's probably just me...

Pickle Brined Chicken Sandwich | Fried Chicken Breast | Pickles | Lettuce | Aioli | Cheddar | Side Salad $14

I didn't really taste the pickle brine flavor like I thought I would, but the chicken was crispy on the outside (although the breading did separate from the meat in some places) and juicy on the inside. There were three thin pickle slices, melted cheese and fresh lettuce on the sandwich. The side salad was dressed with a vinaigrette and included diced tomatoes.

I had pretty high expectations based friends' experiences at Maple Ave. Restaurant (I"ve never been) and what I read about Water & Wall here. I will try it again, but probably not for brunch.

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I had pretty high expectations based friends' experiences at Maple Ave. Restaurant (I"ve never been) and what I read about Water & Wall here. I will try it again, but probably not for brunch.

d-harp, I'm "Liking" your review purely on content; not because I revel in a less-than-stellar writeup for Tim and Joey.

My guess - although I've never had brunch here - is that you had a one-off meal, although I can't be sure because I just don't know their brunch. Regardless, thank you for your candor, and I'm sure Tim will appreciate your write-up even thought it might be something of a bitter pill.

Tim is about to open his third restaurant, and he should perhaps pause and take note of this.

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I hate to post anything negative about a restaurant that I have otherwise adored, but....

Stopped in for the happy hour bar deal I have had a few times before. A new bartender greets me. Ask for all the menus and after they are brought out I inquire (since I suck at memory): "How does the bar special work? Is it any appetizer and any entree or just a selected few?"

Bartender: "Oh, you mean our happy hour special? Yeah, we discontinued that. It's still being advertised a few places, but we aren't doing it anymore."

Me: "Ummmm....it's kind of the reason I'm here."

Bartender: "It's been discontinued."

While I end up having some decent scallops and an astounding new entree of Pork Shoulder (seriously, it was REALLY good) the way that went down left me feeling a bit off. You're still advertising it a few places but not honoring it? Poor form.

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While I end up having some decent scallops and an astounding new entree of Pork Shoulder (seriously, it was REALLY good) the way that went down left me feeling a bit off. You're still advertising it a few places but not honoring it? Poor form. 

A second very useful post that I'm sure Tim and Joey will appreciate (in the long term). You two are not some random people off the street with axes to grind; you're seasoned diners whose opinions mean a lot.

Water & Wall has nothing to worry about; they're a good restaurant, and are probably doing just fine - don't feel bad about telling the truth as you see it.

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Sorry I'm so late to the reply, thank you Don for bringing it to my attention.

First, I'm personally sorry for the experiences d-harp and durwoodx had at Water & Wall.  Service like that right off the bat will kill any meal and we obviously accomplished that.  To top it off with sad food is well.... sad.  Sad for you, more sad for me.  Please PM me so I can make it right for you, and thanks for these reviews, they will help me correct what is wrong for everyone as soon as I can.

We are coming up on a year very soon, these are issues I would have hoped to be worked out by now (but obviously not) and I'll work hard to get it right by then.

Feedback deeply appreciated, I always say I don't want to know what's going well, I want to know what's NOT going well.

Tim Ma

tim@mapleaverestaurant.com

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The hash on the brunch menu is really good.  So I didn't take a picture, but it looks Mexican- it has some salsa on it, but there are underlying flavors that I can't exactly place, but they really make the dish.  It isn't the typical cumin, etc.  The steak was spicy, the potatoes are right for hash.  The eggs on top were runny.  Love it.

Matt had the catfish sandwich- it really fell apart, but he liked the flavor, but wasn't happy about it falling apart.  The only other thing was they kept seating people by the windows, and on a really cold day they should fill up the middle of the restaurant first, it wasn't freezing, but it just wasn't warm by those windows.

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We've been for a dinner a couple times in the last month or so, and a couple times in November.  The food has been great.

I love the wild mushroom soup with orzo and sage, which is in a broth rather than a cream soup, and had wonderful depth of flavor.  The fried cauliflower appetizer with apple mostarda and chili breadcrumbs was delicious and perfectly browned.  The fried calamari with sudacha aoli, fresno chili and cilantro was flavorful, non-greasy, and tender, and was quite a large serving for an appetizer.  I'm not a pate fan, but my mom loved the country pate with orange marmalade and pickled mustard seed.

Main dishes: I really like the farro risotto with winter squash, hazelnuts, charred leeks and ricotta.  Lovely and warming and wintry.  My mom was a fan of the lamb shank with Indian spices, though it's not on the current dinner menu.  One of our party had the half chicken with johnnycake and hot link, and the hot link sausage (chicken sausage, I think) was especially delicious, and the whole dish was excellent.

I have not been wowed by the desserts, but that's partly because I can't have chocolate anymore and the best-looking ones have chocolate.  The one with peanut butter mousse and ganache was pronounced amazing by my husband. I look forward to seeing what they have for spring, as I'm not big into apple (wish more places would have coconut desserts in the winter).

One negative:  food that needs slicing up has been served in bowl/plates with rounded sides that made it quite difficult to cut the food.  Flatter plates would be much better for these. Several of us had this issue, with food messily splashing over the side because of the difficulty cutting on a rounded surface.  I mentioned it to the hostess (as well as the fact that we loved all the food), but since Tim Ma said above that he'd like to know what doesn't work, this is one of those things.

Edit:  we went for brunch in November, and I found the omelet with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms disappointing - well done as an omelet, but not enough flavor of those mushrooms I'd been looking forward to.  Maybe an omelet isn't the best vehicle for those wonderful mushrooms.

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Water & Wall didn't blow me away last night.  Granted, I wasn't in a very good mood as I had a bad day at work, but still, I expected more based on reviews here.

I should say that the service was lovely and perfect.  Thinking back on what we had, whole fish, some pork, a salad, it was all fine but I'm not even motivated to be more specific.

Feel free to delete this random post if it's not helpful.

Oh, here's something helpful. On a beautiful Friday night, it was full but not packed. There was no wait and seating available at the bar and in the dining room.  It was also easy to have a conversation/not too noisy.  And the bathrooms are nice.

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Six of us ate here last night. Overall - good, tasty food, would be nice to have as a local restaurant but it's not a destination.

I started with crème fraí®che wings - basic fried, crispy wings in a sauce made from, well, crème fraí®che, along with gochujang and a couple of other things I don't recall. The sauce was very tasty, but could have been ... well, no, I just deleted my criticism because that's a matter of personal preference. It was a good sauce. The wings were small, and although perfectly acceptable, I think in search of a crispier exterior they cooked a little longer than was necessary. I wouldn't call them dry, but they were heading there. Dense might be the best word. NQD ordered shrimp & foie gras grits; not being a fan of most shrimp dishes I didn't taste it, but she said the various flavors were good but it didn't really come together, and she thought it was too soupy. Mussels were ordered by a couple of people, but I didn't taste them. I think fettucine was the final starter, also not tasted by me.

My entree was basil chicken, a boneless leg that was absolutely delicious, with a wonderful light, crispy skin. There were various other elements on the plate - mushrooms, and a puree of some type, among others - but while tasty, could easily be swapped out for other things. The chicken was the star, and would be anywhere. NQD's pork belly was also very good. The coconut sticky rice that came with it was fairly bland. It's probably supposed to be, but the dish would have been improved if it were either sweeter or more savory. Or better still, if the sauce on the plate added as much flavor as it did color. Unfortunately, it didn't contribute much to the dish. To be clear - this was a nice, tasty dish. But it could have been better. I didn't taste anything else that was ordered.

NQD's dessert was a light spring dessert, orange sponge cake dressed up with various things I don't recall in detail. Mine was a bittersweet chocolate bread pudding. Normally I prefer my bread pudding unadulterated, but it looked delicious when presented to nearby tables, so I gave it a shot, and I'm glad it did. Very tasty; the chocolate did overpower the bread pudding flavor, but that's OK. I'd happily order this again.

Nice collection of cocktails on the menu. I liked what I tried, there were no misses, but no real wows. I can drink happily here, but again, not a destination.

First negative - the room is LOUD. There were only six of us, and we had trouble following the conversation.

Second negative - service. Friendly enough, but slow. We started out OK, but after our starters, I noticed empty water glasses, dishes left on the table, and no checks for new drink orders. Nothing individually excessive, but the cumulative effect was a bit annoying. I finally got a cocktail list to look over, but had to wait several minutes before anyone came to actually take my drink order. Between the volume, and our server not directly checking in with everybody, the person sitting next to me never realized that new drink orders were being taken. The plates were eventually cleared, and water started flowing again, but empty drink glasses, and the warm damp towel I was given with my wings (a very nice touch), lingered on the table way too long. Entrees took a while; five arrived and there was an unexplained delay for the sixth. It wasn't terrible, but it was noticeably slow, things were missed, and the staff was not as attentive as they should have been. The restaurant was busy, but they were not slammed.

A perfectly nice little restaurant I'd happily return to if I had reason to be in the area, but I wouldn't make an effort for it. But it's close.

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I posted a picture of the crazy good non-traditional ramen I had for lunch at Water and Wall in the Where did I dine thread.  It had a delicious pork broth, braised pork, pickled scallions, broccoli rabe.  Will reattach it here.  It was a delightful bowl of noodles. Please, please Tim Ma, consider adding this to the dinner menu.  It would be really easy for me to convince my husband to walk down the street and have this for dinner frequently.  He would love this dish, but we both work in other areas, I happened to get there only because I got to work from home one day.  We have been craving ramen in Ballston, especially since Yona isn't open yet.  I know it's a lower price point than other items, but it would be a nice we can come in and eat here frequently type of thing.

I also wanted to say that while I was there for lunch at least three people came and tried to open the door in the middle of the restaurant and when it didn't open (it's not the entrance door) they walked away.  The glass on the front of the building is so dark and if the sun is shining really hard to see inside, there really should be something right at eye level saying please use other door with an arrow.  I know that is a little tacky, but presumably those three people would have come inside the restaurant and very well would have eaten there.  Anyway just my two cents.

post-5988-0-54967400-1446741964_thumb.jp

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I posted a picture of the crazy good non-traditional ramen I had for lunch at Water and Wall in the Where did I dine thread.  It had a delicious pork broth, braised pork, pickled scallions, broccoli rabe.  Will reattach it here.  It was a delightful bowl of noodles. Please, please Tim Ma, consider adding this to the dinner menu.  It would be really easy for me to convince my husband to walk down the street and have this for dinner frequently.  He would love this dish, but we both work in other areas, I happened to get there only because I got to work from home one day.  We have been craving ramen in Ballston, especially since Yona isn't open yet.  I know it's a lower price point than other items, but it would be a nice we can come in and eat here frequently type of thing.

I also wanted to say that while I was there for lunch at least three people came and tried to open the door in the middle of the restaurant and when it didn't open (it's not the entrance door) they walked away.  The glass on the front of the building is so dark and if the sun is shining really hard to see inside, there really should be something right at eye level saying please use other door with an arrow.  I know that is a little tacky, but presumably those three people would have come inside the restaurant and very well would have eaten there.  Anyway just my two cents.

I'm with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Where do we start our Donrockwell.com petition for ramen at dinner? :)

btw:   I looked at the "where did you dine" piece you did.  I stink at it.  Didn't even try to guess.  After your clue and the brilliant cheesepowder came up with the correct answer I looked at pictures in Yelp.  Lots of pictures.  You can see the placemats among yelp pics from customers/reviewers.

But I had no idea they did ramen for lunch at all.  Now my mouth is watering!!!   ;)   Dinner would also be great or even greater!!!!

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There was a popup with ramen, but it's over now.  This ramen appears to be on the regular lunch menu.  I assume the EBY in the name is Erik Bruner Yang.

that's what i was getting at. we are taking about erik bruner yang's (very tasty) dish, when tim ma is an incredibly talented and creative chef. he doesn't need his buddies recipes, in my opinion, i hope that's a compliment as i love tim and joey's restaurants.

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note to self: never host a pop-up

I know your post didn't mean to be offensive, but the reality is the pop up was in January 2015 and it hasn't been on the lunch menu for months and months, so I assume the chef has no qualms about associating himself with the dish and EBY's recipe (if it was his recipe) to represent his restaurant.  Many dishes are inspired by what other chefs are doing or are things that are "stolen".  No offense but most dishes people serve at restaurants aren't the first time anyone has ever had such a dish, although people can have their own spin on them, most food is "stolen" in some way.  If he didn't want to keep the dish he wouldn't have, but he choose to keep in on the menu in November 2015 (approximately 11 months after the pop-up).

 I would never imply that a chef should include something on their menu from a pop up from another chef that they don't make and isn't what they consider their food.  This is something they make five days a week and they should be proud of it, it's a really good dish I don't care who the recipe is from, it's a talent to execute it.  I can have a Julia Child recipe that doesn't mean I am going to create an amazing dish, but they do.  Along with the fried chicken sandwich it is the most popular lunch dish according to my server (the fried chicken sandwich is also served at brunch and is really popular at brunch, the ramen is not) so I doubt it is coming off the menu anytime soon.  And if it is popular, well that is a sign.  Plus, Ballston obviously is a place that people think ramen would sell well hence the opening of Yona.

My husband is not the most adventurous eater, although from time to time he will tag along for the ride with me, many people are not, and the normal dinner menu at Water and Wall is a little expensive for an average weeknight sort of meal (they do have one a little less expensive option, but my husband isn't going to order a vegetarian meal), especially when something doesn't look great to him.  Something like the ramen on the dinner menu or hell even as a bar special is something accessible, we would go on an average weeknight.  I have to think there are others like me based on the number of likes my post got.  Therefore, a demographic is being missed, one that lives oh about 4 blocks from this restaurant and eats out at about 2-3 nights every week.  And I don't think I am alone in that either.

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I feel ramen is a much more PITA thing to prepare than say a fried chicken sandwich.  I know the Toki and Daikaya crews spend a lot of time prepping for ramen, and it takes a lot of the kitchen resources.  Here's another post that speaks to that.  Just trying to conjecture why it may not be feasible in certain kitchens to have it on every menu.

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I dined at the bar on Friday evening with my wife and had a fantastic meal. My cocktail, Theodore's Elixir, featured rye, Benedictine, Capaletti, and Fernet Branca in a perfectly bitter yet herbaceous combination. The beet salad was solid if unremarkable. The star of the evening was the pumpkin curry, which was simply fantastic. The heat and flavor of the curry blew me away. I would recommend visiting W&W just for this dish.

I should add that my wife ordered cioppino with ramen and was equally pleased.

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MK really wanted to go to brunch here this past weekend so we headed in on Saturday morning.  He got the chicken sandwich and I had the hash.  We both had hot tea, which comes with a nice size, very easy to use pot of hot water.  MK said his sandwich was good, but Chicfila didn't have anything to worry about.  My brisket hash was less than stellar.  It was mostly meat and I really felt the potato, sauce ratio was about non-existent.  I know most people wouldn't complain about something being very meaty, but it was also really salty which if there was more potato it may have equalled out a little and being so meaty also led to having very little texture.  I ate the part with the egg and picked out potato bits to eat.  I asked for toast or bread of some sort and they brought out toasted crostini that had salt and pepper on it.  I think it is strange at brunch to have no real bread option, even to order a la carte.  Toast, Since there was more salt on the bread it just made the dish worse.  I looked on the menu for a bread option or bread basket.  I think with toast the dish would have been a little bit better.  Overall though I wasn't very impressed with this dish and I really want to like this restaurant more than I do.   I just feel like there are little attention to detail matters that are overlooked.      

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8 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

Well in a short period of time I was at Mussel Bar again, mainly because Water and Wall is no longer open for lunch and I didn't know that until I pulled up.  

Taken by itself, this is not a healthy sign for a restaurant.

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34 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Taken by itself, this is not a healthy sign for a restaurant.

It has not been open for lunch for a while as best I can tell.  We sometimes go for drinks at the bar and have come to know they open daily at 5pm.  I think they still do a Sunday brunch, but not Saturday.  What I did find unusual in one of my more recent visits is that the bar stocks only two varieties of Gin, other than whatever lower end version they keep in the rail.  Taken by itself, this is not a healthy sign for a restaurant.

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2 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

Well in a short period of time I was at Mussel Bar again, mainly because Water and Wall is no longer open for lunch and I didn't know that until I pulled up.  

2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Taken by itself, this is not a healthy sign for a restaurant.

1 hour ago, dcs said:

It has not been open for lunch for a while as best I can tell.  We sometimes go for drinks at the bar and have come to know they open daily at 5pm.  I think they still do a Sunday brunch, but not Saturday.  What I did find unusual in one of my more recent visits is that the bar stocks only two varieties of Gin, other than whatever lower end version they keep in the rail.  Taken by itself, this is not a healthy sign for a restaurant.

Back in the day I used to lease retail space, restaurant/food/lunch/dinner space in both urban and suburban markets.   From the operators perspective within urban type (office) markets the key for lunch business more than anything was the volume of nearby office space.  It was the overwhelming factor. 

Along the Rosslyn to Ballston corridor, near as I can currently tell there is about 22-24 million feet of office space (currently experiencing its highest vacancy rate in decades).  Still that is a relatively large amount, housing more office space in this one corridor than most cities, including quite a number of large cities.    Regardless its spread among 5 distinctive submarkets, Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, and Ballston.  Rosslyn and Ballston have the most office space, with Courthouse a distant third.  Clarendon and Virginia Square retain a lower level.    Even within those submarkets, its less likely that somebody working in the lower "foot" of Rosslyn will often hoof it up the hill to have many lunches in the 1400, 1500, 1600 blocks of Rosslyn.  Likewise in similar submarkets. 

On top of that, places with more expensive menu's will naturally see fewer lunch customers.   One phenomena is that quite a few of the better restaurants in Clarendon are not open for lunch.

Virginia Square has a sparse office environment (daytime workers) and might also have a relatively less affluent daytime working population.   All of which leads to the conclusion that it simply has a very tough market for lunch business.  

In my case I meandered over there once in a blue moon for lunch, and the two times I was there it wasn't crowded...and its been a while since the last visit, not because it was good or bad, but simply due to distance, lack of convenience and endless other alternatives. 

They may have counted on lunch when first opening but market conditions suggest it would be tough. 

Now simply stocking two versions of gin outside of the rail................that is surprising.........and if not a good or bad sign, its not encouraging.  

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Tom Sietsema in his Ask Tom chat broke the closing of Water & Wall.

Quote

News flash: Arlington's Water & Wall served its last dinner last night.  Owner Tim Ma, also of Kyirisan in DC, writes: "Water & Wall’s closing is neither a celebration or a wake, it’s just a natural progression in its existence."  The restaurant was three years old.

 

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Not many details on their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/WaterWallRestaurant/

Hope that this community can help the displaced staff -- as I am sure Tim and Joey are also working to do. 

As a writer and resident of the area, it's so disheartening that the few higher-end restaurants in Arlington continue to struggle. I am begging for a new Willow to step up. I want to give you my business.

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On 10/4/2016 at 2:12 PM, DonRocks said:

Taken by itself, this is not a healthy sign for a restaurant.

2 hours ago, dcs said:

Tom Sietsema in his Ask Tom chat broke the closing of Water & Wall.

Are any readers here actually surprised by this?

If so, I need to be a little less subtle - I saw this one coming from a mile away.

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45 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Are any readers here actually surprised by this?

If so, I need to be a little less subtle - I saw this one coming from a mile away.

It was such an odd location.  And you couldn't tell from the outside if they were open or not, some of their best items were not on the regular menu.  I definitely saw it coming.  Not knowing more- this comment could be totally untrue, but it's what it felt like inside the restaurant- was that it was the forgotten sibling of other projects that just didn't get the attention it needed to really shine.  But the location really was in a weird area.

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I'm not surprised (the menu hasn't been updated much, if at all, since Tim Ma left to helm Kyrisian), but it's a shame. It was lovely when Ma was cooking there, we went there a bunch before he left, and I kept checking the menu to see if the new chef was adding some good-sounding dishes and looking for any reviews after the new chef came.  As Jessica said, I hate that Arlington is losing its higher-end restaurants.

Virginia Square is a tough area for one, though. But I very much would like to see a successor for Willow.

Is Osteria da Nino the best higher-end restaurant we have left in Arlington?

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I actually stopped in here last Friday night.  Menu had changed significantly, but all the old favorites like the duck confit were gone.  Bartender/server I talked to said their clientele had been pretty receptive to the changes but I guess not enough were.  The absence of Tim Ma affected this place A LOT. 

I really loved this place when it opened.  I unfortunately agree that Arlington is rapidly becoming a wasteland of dining destinations, although I have to try Ambar.

 

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Have you ever been to a place for the first time thinking "This place sure sounds great" only to walk out thinking "Not so much"?

Here are my yelp comments from about 3 years ago. (Before I discovered this site, of course ) Not the most exciting comments, but this was not the most exciting restaurant. 

*********************************************************

For our first visit, we decided to give the pop-up lunch a try. Overall, the food was extremely delicious. The level of service was very average, but our server was helpful at times, and let us know that the portion sizes varied. That came in helpful when determining how many dishes to order. We were informed the dishes would come out as they were ready. On the other hand, describing all of the dishes as "pretty good" comes across as less than inviting. 

Two of us started with three dishes, and we added a fourth simply because we didn't know when we would be able to return. For our appetites, three dishes would have been about right.

We settled on cucumber chicken salad, General Tso calamari, Kung Pao pork belly, and added MA pan fried pot-stickers. I don't share Andrew H's opinions about the pork belly or the calamari, and thought both were successful dishes. The pork belly was certainly tender--my guess is that it had been braised, then stir fried with the rest of the ingredients in the dish. Nice and tangy, and a bit of heat. The calamari was lightly breaded, and not a bit soggy. I did find the sauce to be a touch sweet. The chicken salad was terrific--I likened it to a cross between a vinegary cucumber salad, with the addition of celery and bits of curried chicken. The potstickers, unfortunately, were a bit flat in comparison, despite the black vinegar dipping sauce.

I'd certainly recommend the pop-up lunch if you enjoy refined versions of Americanized Chinese food. 

One suggestion: the manager appeared to be preoccupied with someone taking pictures of several dishes. Might have been for a magazine, food blog, etc. Regardless, the manager might have noticed that tables needed clearing, and could have been more interactive with the customers. The  manager's absence wasn't off-putting, but it was noticeable.

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