youngfood
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Everything posted by youngfood
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This post makes me look forward to when I finally get to try Eve as much as any of the raves I have read about the amazing, creative food & beverage. What a thoughtful, classy response. I sure hope you don't. I always enjoy getting world class food in a more casual environment. I bet many of your patrons feel similarly about their experiences at Eve. One diners disappointing experience need not ruin it for everyone else.
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Boo. People, please don't exploit one person's generosity so as to blow it for others. Not to impose my morality on others, but leaving to get more seems way over the top and I hope people who bring their own wine remember to be kind to the staff who put in equivalent amounts of effort to open & serve it.
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Maybe 18th Street Lounge? Seems to balance the bar v. club bit pretty well and be somewhere that is both sufficiently hip to allow dancing, and sufficiently mature not to subject you to being bothered by college students. If the weater holds up, they also have a nice outdoor deck. We did Saint Ex for my 26th and enjoyed it. They reserved a big table downstairs for us as long as we got there by a reasonable hour. Not sure if I've been back since, but the food was always really pretty good for a more casual, fun environment.
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Zengo, Outpost of Denver-Based Restaurant - Closed
youngfood replied to Joe H's topic in Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
I liked it. I didn't love it, but we ate some pretty decent food, in an attractive environment that wasn't too trendy and didn't involve bad service. I think this place may have settled down, corrected some early missteps, and suffered from unreasonably high expectations. We had a perfectly nice time tonight. The wine list is overpriced, so we did drinks. The mojitos were good. We did the grazing style and ordered four smaller dishes. From the Sushi Rolls: we tried the Angry Zengo. Spicy yellowfin tuna / avocado / sesame~chile chipotle rouille / wasabi tobiko. This was very tasty. Not Sushi-Ko, Kaz, Moreau level, but a good tasty roll. The Potstickers were very good. Lobster / rock shrimp / scallions / lemon~wasabi sauce. Mmm. My favorite of the four and worth getting 2 orders. I'm not Empanada fan, but if you like them, you should try these. They were lighter, fresher, and more interesting than any other I'd had. Really interesting mix of Thai chicken, oaxaca cheese (love this) and chile. I'm still not sold on empanadas generally, but if you like them at all, these are good. We were less excited about the Hamachi Tiraditos. It was fine, but should have come first, instead of last. It was just too tame in comparison to the other stronger spicy flavors. Zengo seem to have fixed most of the issues that have been complained of, but the whole 'we serve food when its ready' bit is just a bad idea. This clearly should have been our first course. Overall Zengo is ok. I'm sure its best for a drink & an app, but the dining room is nice and spacious and you can make a pretty decent meal at a reasonable price out of a few small plates. Our server Daniel was great. Very nice, attentive, and well informed on the menu. Didn't hesitate to help steer us to good recommendations. -
My mistake: they take reservations prior to 6:30.
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Atlantico, Rasika & Zaytinya were my top three recommendations, so I second (and third) those excellent suggestions. All good recommendations and younger atmoshperes). Zaytinya wont take a reservation though, so your non-drinking friends would have to be able to stand waiting in the bar area for a bit before being seated.
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Mmmmmmmm.... we ate well here on Saturday night. Stopped by for a quick bite after a long day. We didn't like the space - unattractive, low ceilings, smoky, loud, obnoxious neighboring table - and we were ignored when we walked in for at least 5 minutes before being seated, but the food was great. Chef Cox has got it going on. The Mushroom Frisee Salad has been touted here before and it is superb. Yummy wild mushrooms, perfectly poached egg, and intense applewood bacon lardon flavor. The trout is different from the online menu (which needs an update), but was a large fillet and very flavorful. The gnocchi were great. Yukon gold potato, very large pieces with Fontina Cheese and Portabella Mushrooms. Mmm. Not sure if it was the same sauce or not, but the organic broccoli served alongside was the best broccoli I've ever had. Seriously, I liked everything we ate, but the broccoli was the highlight of the meal - it really was that good. I mentioned, we didn't love the atmosphere, but our server was actually very good. Its clear a lot of their staff is from the neighboring college and I thought we were in for trouble when this young-looking, college kid stumbed up to our table, but he was actually very good. Probably the best service from someone under 25 that I can recall. Nothing particularly special, just nice to see someone so young, working so hard, being so polite, and exercising good professional judgment.
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Metropolitan Coffee House and Wine Bar is great. Federal Hill, not Inner Harbor, but close by. Casual, coffee shop atmosphere, but nice friendly spot with good breakfast foods. 902 South Charles at Henrietta.
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Today's Reliable Source reveals the name will be "the Source."
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concur. Was taken here for a group meal this evening and it was plainly mediocre. Everything was perfectly fine, no complaints - professional service, fresh salad, nice piece of salmon, tasty chocolate tort, but nothing to write home about. In short, I think this is a nice restaurant with good food, but not a place for foodies or others seeking a creative, suberb meal.
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We took advantage of this deal last night and are glad we did. I got the shoulder from Wu-Tang's shoalt, while my girlfriend had seared Hamachi. Both were excellent. The amuse were the mushroom fritter with truffle sauce and olive oil custard with a spicy tomato/pepper previously discussed in the CityZen thread and were divinely rich, and might have been my highlights. We both started with a Parmigiano Reggiano Chiboust with hen of the woods, which was a treat. For dessert, we tried both the cheese plate (a soft goat, semi-soft sheep, aged gouda, and french bleu) and the warm chocolate mouse over a marshmallow layer. It was probably my favorite cheese plate of the year and the chocolate was something akin to a world class s'more. We didn't get any of the parkerhouse rolls or a sorbet palate cleanser that the seated tables did, but I'm not sure if that was an oversight on behalf of our swamped bartender or an intentional difference in service. The breads were good, though not special. The rest of the service was outstanding and we didn't feel as though we were treated with any less respect than those who had reserved tables and were paying another $25 a head. I second Rocks' recommendations of the $8 Greek Sauvignon Blanc and the $9 Giacosa Barbera d'Alba. I also had a glass of the french Chardonay which was very nice. It's not often that I'm tempted to spend that kind of money to eat at a bar, but it was the perfect thing for last night and neither the food nor the service dissapointed. Thanks to Rocks for the great heads up on this excellent deal.
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Just stopped by and they confirmed that they are opening a new expansion in Dupont but stated clearly that they ARE NOT CLOSING. Good news!
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Awful, awful news. Just when it was really getting nice enough out to enjoy an outdoor brunch. Dupont, consider this your recompense for losing Johnny's. Montmartre is great and will be missed in the neighborhood.
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Having never been to Eve, I can't tell you whether you are better trying it or Citronelle, but I can tell you that this is one of the best lines I've seen in a long time, no matter what the age of its declarant! And that was my experience when trying Citronelle a while back. Have a great time wherever you go and be sure to tell us about it.
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Dining near Foggy Bottom
youngfood replied to crackers's topic in Washington DC Restaurants and Dining
Osteria del Galileo might be a little far at six blocks away, but would probably meet the good food on a budget requirement. -
Thanks - sounds like eventually I will have to try them both!
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For the uninitiated among us, is there a sizeable drop off if you don't do the tasting room, or can one still get an amazing experience for a little less cash in the bistro?
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Today's Chat
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We had a nice meal at Rasika on Thursday. Not a lot to add that hasn't been said before on this thread, but a few observations / surprises: It didn't feel as overly hip / trendy as we expected and the food was really quite tasty. The gin & ginger was great and the glasses we tried from the wine list were very good and capable of standing up to the spicy food. The scallops appetizer was excellent - great fresh scallops, nicely browned, but still soft / not overdone inside, and a delicious ginger/honey/garlic/pepper sauce that we swabbed every last bit of off the plate with nan. The chicken makhani was delicious. Its probably my favorite Indian dish and this was definitely the best I've had. Sweet, spicy, creamy but somehow lighter than it is most places. Like the scallops sauce it somehow tasted fresher than most Indian cuisine. The black cod was good, but hardly worth it. Love black cod and there was nothing wrong with it, but nothing to justify paying another $10 more than we did for the excellent Makhani. Next time we'll stick with more traditional, and less expensive Indian dishes. The service was fine. We didn't have the good luck of conversing with the renowned Sebastian, which would have been less disappointing if our server's response to a request to help pair a glass with the scallops had been met with something more helpful than "uh, I guess something white probably." Which brings me to wonder if there's an appropriate way to indicate that a desire to see the Sommelier or if one should just flat out say so. Anyways, overall a very tasty meal in a nice atmosphere.
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Taverna is not worth your time. Tortilla Coast is tolerable mex(tex)ican - better and closer if you are going to do mexican is La Lomita Dos at 3rd & Penn. Sonoma is good and a nice spot for a glass of wine and a quick bite, but probably will have a sizable happy hour crowd by that hour on a friday. The best spot is probably Montmartre a short 6 block walk and is very good, reasonably priced (not too fancy pants) French (see its own separate thread on this site). If you can go a few more blocks to Barracks Row (8th St south of Penn) you can get pretty good Thai at Old Siam & solid Indian at Capital Hill Tandoori.
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Exactly. If you are going to go, do so for happy hour at the upstairs bar and pay $2 for your drafts. Pizza and onion rings are solid, but this is not a place to go for original or exciting cooking.
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Generally agree, though there's some value to knowing the appropriate response to getting sick after eating at a restaurant (though the answer does seem pretty obvious). That being said, obviously he should have omitted the low credibility, slanderous portions of the question. Maybe a good editor should have cropped that portion of it?
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I've always done post-tax as well because I thought that's what we were supposed to do, but Tom S says he too falls in the pre-tax camp in today's chat. Washington, D.C.: Hi Tom, I was wondering--as you understand it, in calculating the tip for a meal, shold one use the pre-tax total or the final, tax-included total as the base figure for calculating the tip? I realize that in most situations this probably does not amount to a huge difference, but the difference can be noticeable if you have a relatively pricey meal in the District with its 10% tax. Thanks! Tom Sietsema: I base the tip on the pre-tax amount myself.
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We had an outstanding time at Notti last night. Great pasta, a much nicer environment than had expected based on Tom S.'s critique, and Danny is a star. Danny greeted us and made us feel at home from the start. The man knows his menu, his wines, and is a real charming pro. We started with the octopus and a half portion of the gnocchi. The octopus is charred with a smoky flavor to it and more tender than we'd ever had before. It came chilled with lovely side pairings of celery salad and white bean salad. It was a great compliment to the much richer gnocchi. The gnocchi smelled so good we spent the first couple minutes it was on the table just inhaling its delicious scent. Though deemed "ricotta gnocchi" the prominent flavors were the rich masarpone cream and trumpet mushrooms with a nice blend of herbs. It was delicious. We BYO'ed, but took Danny's excellent wine pairing advice and had a glass of chardonay to accompany it, which cut perfectly through the dish's rich flavors. For entrees we tried the swordfish and chestnut pappardelle and enjoyed both. The swordfish was a great piece of fish, simply prepared with citrus, fennel, olives and caper berries alongside. We'd never had caper berries before and they were a treat. The fish was slightly overdone, but was fresh enough to overcome it and had perfect grill marks on each side. The papardelle was great and we were glad to have a full portion of it even though we couldn't finish it. We were too full to try anything off the desert menu, but were having such a good time that we decide to splurge on the tasting flight of 5 Graham's ports. We're no port connoisseurs, but Danny sure is and it was worth ordering them if only for the education he gave us! Of the group, we were most enamoured with the 1980, followed closely by the 30 year. Of the less expensive ones, the 6 grape was very good and would probably be what we'll order next visit as we usually hold ourselves to a tighter budget. Overall we had a wonderful, leisurely evening. We ended up holding the table for over 3 hours, (no one was waiting for it) and never once felt the least bit rushed or ignored. The staff did a great job of sensing when to check with us and when to just let us relax and enjoy, which we did a lot of. Many thanks.
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Agreed. Cheers indeed to enjoying a nice bottle of wine with a tasty meal and good service. And to those whose prescient knowlege exceeds our own.