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Rose's Luxury Rooftop, For 8-10 People, All You Can Eat, All Evening Long - $125 for Food Only


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P.S., any suggestions re: parking, especially given that there is a Nats game tonight, as well?

A couple of blocks south on 8th St, under the bridge, is a public parking lot.  We've had good luck finding parking there.

It's actually only half a block.

A word of warning about parking: DC's finest parking enforcement is out in full force in the neighborhood.

Also, avoid driving down on Friday nights at all cost.  Now that the Marines are putting on their parades every Friday night through Labor Day, 8th street moves at a slow snail's pace, 9th is blocked off to all traffic (even to residents), and you will not be able to find parking anywhere near the restaurant.  Add the cluster fuck of a Friday night Nat's game almost every other week and Barracks Row becomes busier than ________ /insert clever comparison I can't think of here/.

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so, any update on the rooftop experience this year? I got a brief call saying the format isn't going to be family-style, like it was last year, and I was wondering how the new style flows. (and, sorry friends-- I had to book this one for the parents and their friends, no seats left over as far as I know.)

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I owe everyone a report from Wednesday.  Haven't been able to catch my breath.  The brief story, we had an incredible time, with incredible food.  Only two courses, a pasta that was along the lines of cacio e pepe, but creamier, and the Korean Fried Catfish (currently on the regular menu) were served family style.  The rest (and there was a lot more) was more along the lines of a tasting menu (but, in most cases, with significantly larger portions).

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After a year and a half of trying, I finally scored seats at Rose's rooftop and while it was a fun evening and nice experience, I must admit I feel a little let down by the whole thing. Maybe my expectations for the rooftop were too high or maybe my other Rose's experiences were too perfect to compete, or maybe this being my fourth visit, some of the magic has worn off. Who knows? All the other people really liked it, but it was the first time for all them so they had nothing to judge it against.

The hiccups were mostly service related and started before we arrived and continued into the meal. While they were all pretty minor, I'm noting them because of high standards and reputation that Rose's has. (In retrospect, as I think about it, one hiccup was a little more than minor which I noted below).

Pre-visit:

I saw on their site that you could bring in two bottles of wine for $20 corkage each, but that was for the regular restaurant, not the rooftop, or so I thought. No distinction was made in their FAQ. I wasn't sure so I sent an email to the person I was coordinating with for the dinner. I never got a response (full disclosure: I sent the email the same day as the dinner) (fuller disclosure: I sent a different email later that same day about someone dropping out and did get a response) so I assumed the 2 bottle maximum was for a regular table for two or four in the regular restaurant. When we got there I asked our server about it and she confirmed that there was a two bottle maximum (we brought a red, a white and a rose) so I asked if we could get a special exception or exemption because the bottle of white wine was wine that I made, from grapes that I grew. Again, to emphasize, I planted the freakin' vines, I grew the freakin' grapes (Chardonnay) and I made the freakin' wine (unoaked and crisp, perfect for a warm night)!! Doesn't get much more "local" or "house made" than that. I doubt that this kind of thing happens that often and I'd figure she'd check with the boss on it, but she didn't and just said it was 2 bottles. Period. I supposed I could have asked her to ask a manager or pressed her a little harder, but I didn't want to be a (bigger?) jerk so I dropped it. Looking back, it's bizarre to me that a table for two and a table for ten are both limited to the same number of bottles they can bring in. On the other hand, it's their restaurant and it's their rules, and I'm grateful they allow outside bottles in in the first place, but I still think they (our server) got this one wrong. I guess I was expecting the gracious and accommodating service that I'd read about and experienced, or at least to get a "lemme check". Oh well, it wasn't to be.

Continuing on the wine theme for a minute, the Chardonnay (that I grew and made!!) :D was a little warm and needed to be chilled. It was sitting in a cooler on ice all day long but it warmed up a bit on the metro ride and walk to the restaurant, so we asked to have it chilled. Unfortunately, their idea of chilling it was to put it in one of those metal sleeves where the bottle sits ON TOP of the ice cubes, not surrounded by icy water. And don't forget, we were outside in 80-plus degree weather, so even if the metal "chiller" was cold to begin with, it didn't last that long.
 
[Quick aside "“ I hate those non-chiller, chiller things (the metal or stone "sleeves" that they stick wine bottles in). I see them all the time and while it's probably better than leaving a chilled bottle out on the table, they really don't keep the wine cool, they just slightly delay it from warming up. Whenever I'm drinking wine from one of them, I usually adding ice cubes to my glass, which, obviously, you shouldn't have to do. End of rant.]
 
The end result of the warm evening, and the horribly "chilled" wine was I had to add ice to my glass to properly enjoy it and the ice cubes were melting so fast, I ended up watering down the wine a bit too much. As I think about it, this was more than a minor error because it really took away from the enjoyment of my special bottle. And while this is "only" home grown wine and not some high dollar French rarity, I guarantee, if I added my labor to the price of the wine it would have been the most expensive bottle in the entire place! If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have brought it, or I would have brought the cooler along with me to keep it chilled.

The other minor bit of service weirdness happened when we first got there. Four of us arrived together about 5 minutes early and when we told the hostess who we were she said she had to check and see if our table was ready, and it was almost if they were surprised to see us. So we waited a bit as someone went upstairs, someone else came downstairs, someone else milled around the hostess stand, and we just stood there slightly confused. At one point my friend who had never been there asked me, "So can we go to the table?" It was all very unclear and seemed a little confused. We only waited about 5 minutes so it was hardly a major imposition but for a place that gets as much praise for the service as it does the food, I figured it was worth noting the slightly awkward start. The funny thing was, when we got to the table, it was about the most basic place setting as you can imagine - - a plate, a water glass and a napkin and no utensils!!

Other than the minor wait and the wine issues, the rest of the service was great - warm, friendly, relaxed, attentive. Sorry to open up with all that unpleasantness!!

Dinner:

When we opened the door to the roof garden, we immediately got hit with a very strong smell of marijuana / pot / ganja / weed from the devil's garden!  At first I thought was either coming from the plants (regular herbs and flowers) they have up there, or that it was some kind of incense they had burning because the smell was so strong. Our server told us that it was one of their neighbors and they spark up every night, but usually they wait until later in the evening to do it! No matter, within 5 or 10 minutes they were done and smoke was gone. Although they did come back out a little later for another session, it took nothing away from the enjoyment of the food and was actually a fun little conversation piece.

And now, on to the food (finally!)

A couple posts up, turbogirl asked about the family style/non-family style format this year. This was my first time so I don't know how it used to be, but this year each one of us got our own plate for each course. The first three came out at once and they were each a single bite, amuse bouche-type things. For every other course, we each had our own plate.

Regarding the "all you can eat" tag in the thread title and the mentioned in some posts and ChezWu's blog post, that seems to have disappeared. The "all you can eat" feature was never mentioned by our server and it's not listed on Rose's website anymore. I'm 99% sure it was mentioned at some point in the recent past, but it's not there anymore. It doesn't really matter though because they give you enough food to not even think of ordering more. Would I have liked a second course of some of those dishes? Hell yeah!! I just would have had to come back the next day to eat them!

And now, on to the food (really!)

Our server explained that we'd be sampling a bunch of dishes they were working on for the soon-to-open fine dining restaurant and guy who was going to be running it, Drew, would be cooking for us tonight. When the first three small bites arrived, Drew explained that these were more intricate and time consuming dishes, and there was no way they would be able to make enough to keep up with the nightly demand at Rose's. We asked if they had a name yet and he said they were going to announce in two days and he couldn't tell us yet. (You'll probably already know the name by the time I manage to get this posted!)

Unfortunately, there was no written description of the dishes so it's likely I'm going to leave out a lot of ingredients and not even get the names right. Oh well, I'm doing the best that I can with limited capabilities!

The small bites were, a homemade potato chip with something white on the bottom that may have been a soft, creamy cheese like Boursin with roe on top, a round cracker (that was more like a thin, grilled piece of bread with foie gras and more roe on top, and a cone of thickened and reduced tomato topped with basil buds (I think that's what they were called.) They mentioned that the tomato cone would only be available in the summer because that's the only time they can get the basil buds. That seemed a little strange to me, or a bit of overkill as the basil buds just added a bit of color and flavor to the cones which they probably can get with just cut up basil leaves. The look would be slightly different, but not enough to matter (to me at least!). (If you grow basil at home, the "buds" were the parts of the plant you pinch off before they flower and go to seed). These were all very good and my favorite was probably the foie gras bite.
 
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Next came little loaves of potato bread with a creamy butter on the side topped with chives and toasted garlic crumbs. This was a big hit all around, although later in the evening someone regretted eating them as they were too stuffed to keep going!

Next was the hit of the night for everyone and it brought me the same sense of wonderment and awe and "WTF is happening here?" that I had the first time I tried the Lychee/pork/habanero dish, which was, "how the hell does someone come up with putting all this weird stuff together, and how is it so perfect?!?!". This is also the dish where I really wish they gave us a written description or at least the name. They told us that early in the rooftop season when the weather was cooler that did a similar dish that was served hot, but they tweaked it for the hot weather to make it a cold dish. We were presented with a soup bowl all sorts of chopped up greens and vegetables (cucumber was a main component) but it also included bananas (!!!) and nasturtiums and about 10 other things (Including something very thin and orange which I can't place. From the photo it may have been a flower petal??) which was on top of a thin layer of neon green liquid (chive oil or basil oil or something). They then poured a cold broth over it that had a coconut milk curry somewhere in the mix. Like the Lychee dish, we were instructed to stir it up like crazy and then dig in. The result was this weird and wonderful melding of flavors and textures that inexpiably worked together to create the dish of the night. I predict this will be the defining dish of the fine dining place next door like the Lychee is at Rose's. I'm not a big fan of curry in general and I avoid dishes with coconut and certainly would never order an entrée with banana as the staring ingredient but the combination of those things and 17 other items I can't remember were nearly life changing! Each spoonful was medley of distinct flavors and textures but was somehow also a coherent and organized dish, and there was nice little bit of heat at the end that lingered in your mouth. Not heat like, "I need water" but just a spicy aftertaste that worked well the banana (!) and the rest of it. (The photos are a little blurry because it was starting to get dark and I wasn't using a flash. Yet.)

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Next up was the famed Lychee dish. Good as ever. Not as mind blowing as the first time obviously, but the Rose's newcomers all loved it. This was the first dish we had that was on the regular menu. (I didn't post any photos of this one because you've all seen it before)

Next was a softshell crab on a bed of cooked greens, polenta, and a Bloody Mary vinaigrette. I only know that amount of detail because this dish was also listed on the menu. Our server told us this was a nod to Chef Drew's time spent cooking in Charleston. Another winner that everyone loved. (Two photos - no flash and flash)

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A squid ink pasta with rock shrimp and topped with fried garlic bits was next and was very good. The shrimp has this almost fluffy consistency and a different feel than regular shrimp (my wife didn't remember it this way and thought it was just regular shrimp, so I may be off on this). This may have been the first time I've had (or was aware of having) rock shrimp so I'm not sure if it's just a feature of the shrimp or just the way they were prepared. I had some grit in a couple of bites of my shrimp which took away from the overall enjoyment, but it was a tasty dish.

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The next dish was the biggest failure of the night and was universally disliked. I think it's the same one listed on the menu as family size portion, but we were all given single servings. Then again, I think they told us this was the first time they were serving it as they were trying it out for the place next door, so I'm not sure if we got something different than was listed on the menu, or if it was the first time they were serving it in the entire restaurant and not just the rooftop. On the menu it's listed as braised pork shoulder with peach BBQ and summer sides, which was an accurate description of what we got. We were told that the pork was braised for 24 hours prior to cooking and the peaches were farmers market "seconds" that they cook down to make the sauce. It all sounded very good but unfortunately it didn't live up to the description. Across the table, people had different negative comments. One was, "not enough seasoning, tastes bland, needs salt" another was "too fatty, my entire first bite was a hunk of fat" another was "it was kind of tough, for something that was brined for 24 hours I'd expect to fall apart when I cut it". For me, I thought the peach BBQ sauce was too sweet.

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When we discussed our highs (the chilled soup) and lows (this dish) with our server, she agreed that this one wasn't quite there yet.

The final main course was the famed brisket and it was as good as ever. People were really loving it but we were really getting stuffed by now so we actually left a half a piece of meat uneaten. WTF!?!? What's wrong with you people!?!?

For dessert our server told us that they will never have a chocolate dessert or anything standard and that instead they've been focusing on using vegetables in their desserts. YES! Bring on the English Pea Cake!! No! It's not on the menu now. No biggie I figured, peas are a spring and fall crop around here, so I asked if the dish would return in a couple of months"¦"¦.A much bigger NOOOOOOOOOOOO! She told us that she didn't think it would ever return because they like to keep doing new things. (She aslo said the only dishes that have been on the menu since the day they opened are the Pork Lychee and the Brisket). I really hope she's mistaken about the loss of the Pea Cake because that would be like the Rolling Stones refusing to play Satisfaction in concert ever again. Actually no, that would be like the Rolling Stones refusing to allow Satisfaction to ever be played or even listened to ever again!

Anyhow, our first dessert was a sungold tomato based dessert with sungold ice-cream, a sweet sungold syrup/broth with a couple of sungold tomatoes cut in half and floating in it. I really liked this dish and ended up eating the remainder of someone else's who didn't care for it. A strange aside: a couple courses ago I was stuffed beyond belief, but somehow at this point I was feeling good enough to have a second dessert.

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Our second dessert was their take on beignets. They came in a little paper bag that you were supposed shake up to coat with powdered sugar. Everyone seemed to like theirs, but I took a couple bites and couldn't eat any more. The first bite was good but there was a little bitter aftertaste. So I tried again, and again the overwhelming taste was bitter. No one else seemed to mind so I took another bite and it was just harsh and bitter so I put it back in the bag and sealed it up. I don't know what happened here, but I'd put this dish in the inedible category. At least the one that I was served. On the way home, my wife mentioned that her first bite was bitter too, but the rest was fine. I was glad I had the paper bag to hide my uneaten portion!

The third dessert was some sort of crème brulee or flan type dish made of corn or corn chowder! It was served in a ring and had a slightly crunchy and burnt looking top layer with a creamy corn pudding below it. It came with pickled blueberries that we were supposed to mix in (or just eat on the side). This was very good and nicely weird. It doesn't reach the heights of the English Pea Cake but it was a very nice unexpected surprise. I'd definitely order this again.

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They sent us home with a doggie bag for breakfast - - a small carton of orange juice, a container of coffee and a slice of their eggplant dessert. I tried the eggplant last time I was there along with the Pea Cake and while it was interesting and different I wouldn't order it again but I appreciate the gesture and will heat it up tonight.

In spite of all my complaints, it was really nice meal and a wonderful and special evening. They really do treat you right with things like the doggie bag and the warm and friendly service.

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I was fortunate enough to reserve the rooftop deck last August, and I feel like I had a similar experience as yours. Overall, it was a lot of fun and had some great dishes but also felt like there were some clear misses. One of our first courses was tomatoes on white bread that I know was designed to be simple and delicious, but just felt a little too basic because the tomatoes weren't all that great. The popcorn soup (that I had read so much about) was served at room temperature and I think would have benefitted from being warmed up. And we finished with the pork shoulder with peach BBQ sauce that was very good, but felt a little lacking.

I loved the service and the vibe. Some of the dishes (like the lychee salad) were incredible. If I could go again, I would probably do so. I didn't find it quite as transcendent as some, but it was a fun night. The problem is (at that price point) you have a tendency to remember the misses instead of the hits.

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