Review #5 - Kinship

[DonRocks]

Here is our 5th Poll, which will close Saturday at 1 PM.

 

Thank you to our wonderful participating members for all you've done for this community.

 
Cheers,
Rocks

[Shaho]

Kyirisan, Tim Ma's new DC restaurant. Seems like the kind of place people on this site would enjoy, but haven't heard any mention of it yet.

[Bart]

Kinship.

I didn't want it to have to come to this, but your refusal to write a review has forced me.

[DonRocks]

Kinship.

I didn't want it to have to come to this, but your refusal to write a review has forced me.

No restaurant is off-limits.

[DonRocks]

By the way, going forward (for Review #6), if the nominator chooses to un-nominate a restaurant they nominated in the past, they may (and that doesn't disallow them from nominating another one as usual). If, for some reason, more than one person nominated the same restaurant, all people will need to do so (I don't *think* that's ever happened, because once one person nominates a restaurant, it's nominated, and there's no reason for someone else to "waste" their nomination on a restaurant that's already been nominated). There's no reason to leave something hanging in a poll forever if nobody wants it there, but there's also no particularly good reason to delete a restaurant that has already been nominated (don't forget, if it's un-nominated, then re-nominated in the future, it will lose its place in the ordering of things).

Did what I say just make sense? It will probably never happen, but it's okay if it does (it'll save me some typing!)

[jasonc]

You forgot to add the new Ray's Georgian place

[DonRocks]

13 hours ago, jasonc said:

You forgot to add the new Ray's Georgian place

Jason,

The way I include restaurants is as follows:

• I cut-and-paste all restaurants in the old poll, in order, as restaurants in the new poll. (This is a manual, line-by-line operation, and has the potential to become a massive amount of work - I asked Invision if there was a way to copy one poll into another, and they said that nobody has ever requested that before, at least not that they can remember, so the answer, unfortunately, was no.
• I add the new nominees, in order, onto the end of the poll.

However, I do not go back and look at what's in the old posts, so to create a nominee, you need to nominate it in the most current list of nominees, *before* the poll comes out - it took me several minutes to find where you had nominated "The Dugout" (is this actually a restaurant, or just a portion of the menu?) I guess if it wins, I'll find out.

But make sure to nominate it in the next go-round; for this current one, it's too late I'm afraid, and if you don't do it, I'll forget to do it myself. I suspect many people will be interested in this, so it could go straight to the top, or near the top.

[DonRocks]

Because of the cluster with the upgrade, we'll extend the poll until Wednesday (tomorrow) at 2 PM. As of right now, it's Boundary Road and Kinship running neck-and-neck.

I just reviewed Grandale Vintner's Table because I thought it was important, and nobody was going to bring it up.

[DonRocks]

Here's the dilio: This week, I'm going to write up two places that I absolutely *owe* write-ups to. Not "financially" owe, but morally owe. I've been promising for weeks if not months, and I have to keep my word (plus I want to, because they're both really great and you positively *need* to know about them!) That will be all I can handle over the next couple of days.

Then, next week, I'll have Kinship done. It won't be a "long" review, but it will be backed up by someone who has walked the walk. You'll see.

I'll be in California for a couple of weeks, so if you want me to review any restaurants in Oakland, Berkeley, or San Francisco (I was negligent writing about my last couple of visits, when I went to Boulevard, Zuni Cafe, Slanted Door, Coqueta, Rich Table, Delfina, Cowgirl Creamery, etc - I think these are mentioned in the San Francisco thread - but this time, I *really* want to concentrate on 2016 James Beard semifinalists if you don't mind, so I'll be asking you to focus on those - either those, or places you have first-hand knowledge of) or North Bay (I can already *urge* you to go to Fremont Diner in Sonoma (best breakfast food I've ever had; The Girl & the Fig is "good" and worth one visit if you're at the beautiful Sonoma Plaza) and Oenotri in Napa (I've been probably a half-dozen times, and I prefer it to the great 2 Amys; Farm at the wildly expensive Carneros Inn (for when you regain consciousness: yes, that *is* a "1" in front of the price of the hotel room) is *very* overrated, but I've heard their "second" restaurant, Boon Fly Cafe, has great fried chicken at a reasonable price), even Bouchon (consistently good) or Bottega (same celebrity chef as Coqueta) in Yountville) or even Sacramento (where I have yet to find a good restaurant), let me know - maybe the next thread will focus exclusively on those restaurants, and I'll do, say, three of them (maybe more - whatever I can fit in, time-wise). Whatever you want. Start thinking about what you want reviewed in the Northern San Francisco area, and think about yielding to people who will be visiting there in the near future. Please don't make me spend a fortune at The French Laundry ($310 prix fixe, even for vegetarian). I'll do it, reluctantly, but I really don't have an expense account, and this is all coming out of my pocket, so that would be a thousand-dollar evening - please think "2016 Beard Semifinalists," and I don't mind doing some driving.

Beginning next month, some degree of normalcy will return to my life (if there is such a thing), and things will be as they were before.

[RWBooneJr]

Quote

I'll be in California for a couple of weeks, so if you want me to review any restaurants in Oakland, Berkeley, or San Francisco ... or North Bay ... or even Sacramento..., let me know - maybe the next thread will focus exclusively on those restaurants, and I'll do, say, three of them (maybe more - whatever I can fit in, time-wise). Whatever you want. Start thinking about what you want reviewed in the Northern San Francisco area, and think about yielding to people who will be visiting there in the near future.

Can I start by suggesting this or this (whichever is your preference), or perhaps this or this (if you want a more interactive experience)?

[DonRocks]

4 hours ago, RWBooneJr said:

Can I start by suggesting this or this (whichever is your preference), or perhaps this or this (if you want a more interactive experience)?

You amuse me unceasingly.

[Bart]

Don - we seemed to have lost some momentum here.  You were on a wild tear for a bit which was hard for me to keep up with so I can't imagine what it was like on you but are we ever going to get that Kinship review!?!?!?   

[DonRocks]

12 minutes ago, Bart said:

Don - we seemed to have lost some momentum here.  You were on a wild tear for a bit which was hard for me to keep up with so I can't imagine what it was like on you but are we ever going to get that Kinship review!?!?!?   

Sorry, I've been in San Francisco for two weeks - I'm wiped out. I knew Kinship was going to be a bear for me, and don't even remember when I had what, which is why I hadn't reviewed it before (it's sort of what Corduroy used to be for me when it was on K Street - the place I'd go when I just wanted some peace, and didn't feel like working or writing). But I want to keep moving forward with these reviews, so I figure a middling review is better than no review at all; then, I'm fully prepared to write up Boundary Road. Right now, I'm exhausted, I've got to get some rest, and I've got Mix's service this weekend. I'll try to get it done by next week - I have menus from all my visits, but since I didn't write anything down, I'm having trouble remembering when each menu is from, although I can probably figure that out once I get organized. Once I get past Kinship, I'll be able to do as many of these as people want.

[DonRocks]

Kinship