youngfood

We had a superlative meal here last night. I was really pleasantly surprised to like the space (sorry Tom) and to find the food and service to be first rate. We mostly sampled things already praised here, and so I only add myself to the chorus of praises for the marrowbone, brats, carrots, the acacia pinot A, and the apple pie. The brats were really out of this world - how does one make brats that melt on your tongue? I was really pleased with the trout as well, so one need not be afraid to vere from the meat & potatoes categories here. We enjoyed the fries, but I wont order them again. They were interesting, rich, and crispy, but didn't do anything more for me than fries from Bis or Poste do. I guess fries are just fries to me and probably not something I will bother to order when engaged in fine dining. My only quibble would be that while the pie was one of, if not the, best pies I've had in a restaurant, it would be improved by being served above room temperature. If you didn't try Blue Duck when it first opened, you should.

Wait, you can't eat at the bar here? Really? Is that an ongoing or a new policy?

Particularly now that they seem to only offer a tasting menu all week long.

I'm sorry to hear you experience mirrors my own. The deconstructed servings, in particular, were attractively presented, but uninteresting apart. For anyone going soon I will say that the black-eyed pea fritters were tasty and largely constructed when presented, and that the crunchy yucca couscous that accompanied the salmon was fascinating and delicious. And the morrocan beer was pretty good and at $4.50 a better value than the wines by the glass.

Does anyone have any inexpensive port recommendations? I've enjoyed the Fonseca Bin No. 27 which can be had for $20 and under, but most decent port seems to cost a good bit more. Anything else good at that level? Any stellar recommendations for $50 and under or does port necessarily cost a good bit?

Not the first. We went tonight with high expectations, but left underwhelmed. I hesitate to say too much based on an early, packed Restaurant Week experience, but be forewarned that while the entire menu is available for Restaurant Week fully half of it has upcharges and serving sizes are rather small. The bread comes with four spreads - bok choi, sun dried tomato, pumpkin, and lavender honey butter - all of which we enjoyed. The amuse was a seafood stew, which was full of fish and nice. The preparations were pretty interesting, certainly visually appealing, but the food did not blow us away. The fritters were probably our favorite order. Nothing so bad that I'd recommend avoiding it, but it felt like Restuarant Week in a relatively new, average restaurant. I didn't care for our server, but others seemed more impressive and the other staff we dealt with were really quite nice. I doubt I'll go back. I hope others have better experiences and post about them.

According the the Post's Entertainment blog it sounds like they will come close to doing so: "Chef Morou promises to offer nearly all of the menu, including his signature fritters but excluding some of the most expensive dishes."

Chef Chittum is an amazing talent and should surely be on any list of young talented chefs in town. If my outstanding meal at Dish 12/30 is any indication, Dish is my first nomination to a should have been included list.

Indeed! We tried Dish for the first time on December 30 and came away thinking it must be among the most underrated (unrated?) restaurants in town. The restaurant itself is strikingly small, but elegant without being pretentious. We tried the tasting menu and a few other plates. The five-course tasting menu is a good value at $65 and a great value with wine pairings for only another $20. The tasting menu emphasizes game, of which I'm not a real enthusiast, but Chef Chittum is deft with salt and his dishes were executed with perfect - every time cooked to a perfect pink medium rare inside, with nice seared outsides. The quail salad and rabbit "stew" had us oo-ing and ah-ing. The quail salad comes with curly endive, intensely smoked bacon, and an aged sherry vinegar. The quail was rich and the salad reminded my of my favorite salad of 2006 - the poached egg salad at Circle Bistro. It was paired with a lovely chardonnay. I never quite figured out how to describe the rabbit "stew" but it did little to resemble stew, struck me more as some sort of an egg custard accompaniment. The rabbit itself was tender and moist. The pairing was a carneros pinot, which was not highly structured and had soft tannins, but was ripe and smooth. The duck course too was outstanding. It could not have been cooked to a better perfection (at least if you like medium-rare) and was accompanied by a butternut squash "risotto," which was amazing and sweet featuring pumpkin water and a gastric. It was reminiscent of pumpkin pie, but as thin as a light broth. It was paired with a Cote du Rhone. I was stuffed by the time the roasted venison with brussel sprout pedals, pears, and crispy sweetbread roll arrived, but it too was cooked to perfection with a nice crisp sear and beautiful pink inside. Again, it was beautifully salted. You could tell it was prepared by a real technician. The Havens merlot was a nice pair. The walnut cake was nice, but less noteworthy than the Austrian Kracher Auslese Cuvée '03 that accompanied it. From the regular menu, we sampled the foie with pumpkin three ways, which was huge and a delight, the mixed greens, which also came with a nice tangy vinaigrette and roast pears, and the Maryland rockfish with crispy blue points, which was beautifully cooked for an otherwise less than exciting fish. Its skin was crisped and covered in a chowder froth that was a tad fishy, but lovely nonetheless. Nikki, our server, was gracious in taking the time to explain details of each dish and pairing, and the rest of the front of house staff paid careful attention to us at all times. I can't say if Dish will be as outstanding as it was for us every night - the restaurant was more than half empty, and I saw Chef Chittum himself manning the kitchen - but I can say with certainty, that when it is on, it is deserving of great praise of which it has received far too little. It was one of the top few meals of 2006 for me.

Those posts were deleted with the poster's permission. They were unpopular because they offered no details and were all based on second hand information, which renders them less credible and less useful. I totally agree with you about the value of constructive criticism. If you have some, offer it, but make it constructive. As someone considering making my first visit to a Rays post-DR.com preview dinner, I would welcome some advice about anything to avoid. And chilling out is a good idea, but taking someone else's private messages and making them public when that person was trying to do you a favor by letting you know how your initial post would be perceived is not. Its surely not a good way to get folks to chill out...

GREAT post! Thank you for sharing!

They close early- around 5 or 6. If you go, be sure to get your waffle "extra crispy" or "well done." And it should go without saying, but steer clear of the chinese food.

Todd chat happening now. Does anyone else follow these in real time and find the updating excruciatingly slow? Not sure if I have technical difficulties, or if I need to just wait for the whole thing to get posted before following along...

Ok, I'll bite... Then surely you should come out with it already!

Yes.

Schneider's on Cap Hill has Saintsbury Carneros Garnet (2004) on sale for $13.99. I'm not a pinot enthusiast (in large part because of pricing) but this is a nice easy bottle to drink with cherry and raspberry fruit flavors. I had my first bottle just last week and intend to go grab more soon. I, too, am definitely interested in other modestly priced pinot suggestions.

The sign is up! It'd be easier to miss Bucks, than Comet now. Let me add myself to those proclaiming Comet's New Haven-influenced style pizza to be their favorite in town. We tried pies with smoked mozz, smoked shrooms, pepperoni, and onions and both were great. Fantastic thin, crisp, lightly charred crust. I didn't think the pie pricing was so outrageous ($11 and $12), though they were definitely the two smallest pizzas I've ever seen. I wonder if they will eventually offer personal and LARGE sizes? Blue Moon and Old Dominion Amber were on tap (and I think I saw kegs of OD Ale and Allagash lying around, perhaps to replace them). $6 a pint is a bit much for a divy pizza joint though. I thought the atmosphere was great and service was all we needed it to be. The bathrooms do seem like they're going to have to be labelled eventually, as surely the staff will tire of walking newcomers to the back room and surely some women will tire of walking in on or being walked in on by men. And I'm no longer undefeated, though if Rocks had to play against my girlfriend five times last night I have no doubt his streak wouldn't have lasted through the evening either! It was a blast to play though.

Murky's espresso drinks have spoiled all other DC establishment espresso based drinks to me. I'm not wild about their coffee, but they make the best lattes & espressos around. As for the service, the folks at Eastern Market make great drinks and are a lot of fun, and its not their fault the store is entirely too popular for its size.

Does anyone know if RTS does gift certificates? And if so, any tips on when and how to obtain one? We haven't been able to connect with someone on sight via telephone and are hoping to have one in hand by week's end. Thanks!

Really? Please do tell!

To be clear, that was absolutely not my intent. I do think its not hard to subconsciously start piling on when you decide you don't like something, just as it is to think everything about someone/something is perfect when you have a favorable initial impression. Mostly, I don't think a server is to blame for recommending a certain amount of dishes at PS7 just as I don't think the servers at actual small plate/tapas restaurants are to blame for recommending a certain number of dishes. The point is that when you don't follow a tradition 3 course menu set up, some diners need some direction to determine how much or how little to order.

I thought it was totally gratuitous. And its been publicized plenty. As early as Tom's own June weekly dish in June where he discussed the menu featuring small plates. While I don't disagree that the suggestion that you need to order any more courses when dining here than you would normally order elsewhere is off base or that the suggestion that you should is somewhat unnecessary (I made the some critique after eating there), but its hardly the fault of his server and more likely her responsibility to say so if that's the chef's concept in designing the 7 courses. Indeed, what would the point of seven different course categories be if you were supposed to presume that the first two were appetizers, the next three were entrees, and the last two were desserts? The "bring sunglasses" line and the complaint about the noisy party of twelve that were there one night were also a little over the top. It seems like Tom caught onto some real imperfections with the place, but his tone in his write up makes me think he was determined to offer another low star review. Maybe he's really taken past criticism of his consistent 2-2.5 star review run to heart?

Yes, yes, yes!

Mmmmm.... this is GOOD! Great mix of different high quality chocolate slivers in a lovely mint gelato - just the thing after totally stuffing yourself full with pasta, cheese, and bruscette. And Wine Madness is great. I wish Dino could be my neighborhood restaurant.

Sorry to hear that. Indeed, we made reservations for Monday and were looking forward to finally getting a chance to sample your cooking. Do keep us posted of your future plans, Chef, and I hope you enjoy your new found freedom in the meantime.