tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726462472453980232024-03-13T13:18:45.665-04:00DISHES TO DIE FROM: Foodie HellAntoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-48057039658043617002019-05-04T09:56:00.000-04:002019-05-04T09:59:15.743-04:00Lost in Translation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I am giving this place two stars, which is defined by Yelp as "Meh. I've experienced better." I certainly have experienced better - when Chaia was a food cart at Dupont Circle farmers' market. This bricks and mortars version is a major downer. Gone are the made to order tortillas that I loved so much. The inventive fillings are still there, but not infused with the loving spirit that originated them. The storefront is sterile, the joy is gone. A huge frowny face from this former fan. :(</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: helvetica neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://www.zomato.com/washington-dc/chaia-farm-to-taco-georgetown" target="_blank" title="View Menu, Reviews, Photos & Information about CHAIA, Farm-to-Taco, Georgetown and other Restaurants in Washington DC"><img alt="CHAIA, Farm-to-Taco Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato" src="https://www.zomato.com/logo/18278382/biglink" style="border: none; height: 146px; padding: 0; width: 200px;" /></a> </span></div>
Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-81920276560276042462017-12-31T14:22:00.000-05:002018-01-01T20:16:54.362-05:00Shake Up at Shaya<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The <a href="http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2017/12/alon_shaya_drops_plan_to_purch.html">shake-up at Shaya</a> is having an impact on the kitchen, it seems. The day we dined there, the beautifully conceived dishes were poorly executed. An unsurprising development when the originating chef departs under a cloud of ill will.<br />
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Shaya is meant to take the canon of Israeli, Palestinian, and other Middle Eastern dishes and elevate them to new heights. I can see how these riffs on old standards once worked brilliantly. But new improvisations still have to come together in their own right. Here are some examples of how they don't quite do that any more.<br />
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<b>Pita bread</b>: Shaya makes their own pita bread in a special oven, on view at the back of the restaurant. The loaves are served warm and slightly charred; from the outside they seem perfect. But the oven seems to be cranked up a little too high, because the insides are not quite baked through. To someone familiar with the texture of Palestinian pita (hubz), these are just a beat off.<br />
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<b>Hummus with lamb ragu: </b>The lamb in its luxurious sauce is meant to elevate the more modest "hummus b'lahme" - a Palestinian dish traditionally made with bits of simply grilled lamb. Shaya's sauce is amazing, and somehow combines haute cuisine with rusticity. It is to the dish's credit that I was still able to appreciate this, despite it being over-salted.<br />
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<b>Schnitzel sandwich: </b>Oy! I am willing to bet money that Alon Shaya would have ensured that the chicken breast was properly beaten with a meat tenderizer to produce a thin, elegant slice of meat. All those who remember their Ashkenazi grandmothers preparing this dish will find <a href="https://foodiehelldc.blogspot.com/2017/12/shake-up-at-shaya.html"></a>this thick slab to be a travesty of their childhood comfort foods. To make up for the dryness of the too-thick chicken breast, the kitchen has schmeered on a hefty layer of harissa mayonnaise. But the proportions are off and there is no bringing them back.<br />
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It seems clear that, absent the chef's personal orchestration of the kitchen, the cooks are trying to play the notes, sometimes missing them, definitely not playing music. The parade has passed by, and we are into the second line here.<br />
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<a href="https://www.zomato.com/new-orleans/shaya-uptown" target="_blank" title="View Menu, Reviews, Photos & Information about Shaya, Uptown and other Restaurants in New Orleans"><img alt="Shaya Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato" src="https://www.zomato.com/logo/17247321/biglogo" style="border: none; height: 34px; padding: 0px; width: 104px;" /></a><br />
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Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0New Orleans, LA, USA29.951065799999991 -90.071532329.511172299999991 -90.7169793 30.390959299999992 -89.4260853tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-20478661923584862752015-08-08T16:40:00.000-04:002015-08-08T16:55:03.874-04:00JOSE ANDRES' BEEFSTEAK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have a lot of respect for Jose Andres. Let me just say that before I start my rant. But in the case of Beefsteak: the maestro thought of a clever name, sourced top ingredients, and stopped there. A visit to the West End eatery is a lesson in how good food is not enough. At least 4 flaws detract from good eating at this establishment, all of them having to do with JA's lack of experience with build-your-own meals. Here is what I mean:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Bad signage:</strong> the white on beige lettering is small and hard to discern. But having clear instructions on how to build your own bowl is critical, given that the ingredients and possible combinations will be novel to most people. This is a problem that Chipotle, with its familiar burritos and tacos, does not have.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Limited and incoherent "favorites": </strong> At Chop't -- arguably the model for Beefsteak -- the array of possible combinations is made more navigable by suggested "house favorites" - most of them tempting. I don't need to waste time figuring out how to build my own, because somebody who knows about food has already done that work for me in a thoughtful and mouthwatering way. Beefsteak only offers 4 suggestions, none of them compelling, even once the lettering is deciphered. To make matters worse, most of these offerings are salads, disconnected from the sauces and grains on offer.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Serving vessels are not appropriately sized: </strong>I was saved from the build-your-own confusion by the Beefsteak Burger -- not because I was able to pick it out from the illegible menu, but because I had read about it in the Washington Post. So that is what I eventually ordered. But once it was handed to me and I settled down at a table, it proved impossible to lift out of the bowl, which was only a millimeter wider than the burger itself. I won't describe the slippery mess that ensued when a quarter cup of mayonnaise, very ripe avocado, and a large slice of tomato slid out of their bun, and I was forced to scoop them up and try to rebuild the burger.</span></li>
</ul>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Staff are badly trained: </strong>I am pretty sure that Jose Andres' sense of how to proportion sandwich ingredients does not include a quarter cup of mayonnaise on a single bun. I ended up scraping most of it off.</span></li>
</ul>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Garbage cans are nowhere to be seen: </strong>Perhaps if I were not already so unhappy, this would have been a virtue. But at that point, having glanced around and not seen where to dispose of the remains of my meal (including almost a quarter cup of mayonnaise and most of the avocado which had slipped out), I just left it on the table. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am not especially proud of this, but honestly -- the Jose Andres team has no clue about how to design any aspect of a fast-food meal experience. They need to find a new consultant to compete with their better established competitors.</span><br />
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Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-64283607437748119862012-03-03T22:08:00.012-05:002012-03-09T21:39:06.325-05:00Beauregard's Thai Room<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Whitney Houston’s funeral was the weekend our groupon to Beauregard’s Thai Room was set to expire. Very inauspicious. I pooh-poohed Chris' suggestion of calling for a reservation, but when we got there, the only place we could be seated was in the tap room. I've never seen this at a Thai restaurant before, but Beauregard's has a sportsbar-like tap room, complete with a blaring TV. And so we were doomed to eat our meal while coverage of the funeral was going on...and on and on. We dined to the first bars of I Will Always Love You playing repeatedly. The couple next to us scarfed down their meal and got out of there are quickly as they could.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And here is our meal itself:</span></span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wud5CBHlkp0/T1LdoJQELzI/AAAAAAAAAn8/0AeELftB8ys/s1600/Beauregard%2527s_Thai_Cellophane_Noodles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wud5CBHlkp0/T1LdoJQELzI/AAAAAAAAAn8/0AeELftB8ys/s320/Beauregard%2527s_Thai_Cellophane_Noodles.jpg" uda="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thai Cellophane Noodles. Not too appetizing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ziOocBthsYc/T1Ldt7RJhqI/AAAAAAAAAoE/LvY9C_i1MWE/s1600/Beauregard%2527s_Pad_Thai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ziOocBthsYc/T1Ldt7RJhqI/AAAAAAAAAoE/LvY9C_i1MWE/s320/Beauregard%2527s_Pad_Thai.jpg" uda="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pad Thai with chicken. Chris was unhappy.<br />
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<div align="left"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Dear readers, this was not a good night, on so many levels. Since I had read that Beauregard's was more elegant and pricy than most Thai restaurants, we took a peak at the other dining rooms to see what all the fuss was about. Yes, the upstairs was a tad more upscale, in the way of a dowager fallen on hard times. It had a dingy colonial feel to it, the room the "better paying customers" may be shown to, as Chris put it. On the other hand, the outdoor patio, which has also had rave reviews, showed promise. So perhaps, Beauregard's, if I come back in the summer, I won't always hate you.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div><br />
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</tbody></table></div></div><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/49/530125/restaurant/Downtown/Beauregards-Thai-Room-Richmond"><img alt="Beauregard's Thai Room on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/530125/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-10690058450027564742012-02-05T10:55:00.035-05:002012-02-12T19:25:14.829-05:00Pig's Head for Dummies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">When it comes to head-to-tail restaurants, I don't know my ass from my elbow. And if you're like me, neither do you. So here I am sharing what I have learned from my first encounter with pig's head, at Mike Isabella's Graffiato. <br />
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<strong>1.</strong> <strong>When you order pig's head in a tapas restaurant, it's not going to be the whole head.</strong><br />
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This seems obvious now, but at the time I was thrown by the name" "pig's head". I did try to get clarification from our server, by asking if the dish actually <em>looked </em>like a pig's head. He said yes. But of course, the answer to that question depends on what your notion of a pig's head looks like. The better question would have been: is it a <em>whole </em>pig's head?<br />
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Lesson learned: when it costs $10 and is expected to arrive within 10 minutes, it's not going to be the whole head. <br />
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This insight logically leads to the next point:<br />
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<strong>2. A pig's head has many parts. If you are not getting the whole head, you need to ask which part.</strong><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7DG_A3QuuI/Ty2fpXkqj7I/AAAAAAAAAls/whqw2BVsGLE/s1600/Graffiato_pig's_head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" sda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7DG_A3QuuI/Ty2fpXkqj7I/AAAAAAAAAls/whqw2BVsGLE/s320/Graffiato_pig's_head.jpg" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pig's Head with Sausage and Braised Red Cabbage <br />
(?)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Once the tapas-sized portion had arrived, I was too stunned to ask the server what it actually was. But as it turns out, there is an astonishing number of people out there writing passionately about the various parts of a pig's head. The next day, I skimmed through the tales of butchery -- accounts of home chefs disarticulating their first porcine skull, using boning knives and crap saws to cut through cartilage, sinew and bone -- to focus on the parts themselves. (These accounts really made me wonder: how desperate are we to rediscover where our food comes from? In their descriptions, the writers make an attempt at humor that is really the literary version of nervous laughter; then swear to leave butchering to a professional next time.)<br />
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First, there are the obvious parts:<br />
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<strong>Snout</strong> (pure skin and fat)<br />
<strong>Tongue</strong> (must be scraped free of tastebuds) <br />
<strong>Ears</strong> (hairy and need to be shaved, but then offer a nice crunch of cartilage)<br />
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But it was the insides of the head itself that interested me. It seems that this can be divided into three categories that need to be separated:<br />
<br />
<strong>Pure meat</strong>: the largest pockets can be found in the cheeks, underneath the eye sockets, and near the brain at the base of the skull<br />
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<strong>Flesh mixed with collagen and fat: </strong>this is the part I think we were served at Graffiato. It corresponds perfectly with <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/04/the-nasty-bits-breaking-down-a-pigs-head-offal-headcheese-ramen-recipe.html">Chichi Wang's description</a>: "the amorphous, somewhat undefinable mass of fatty tissue and gelatinous collagen that's holding everything together on the head." Although Wang writes fondly of a "softer, creamier texture that's pleasantly gooey and gummy," I beg to differ. Masses of fatty tissue is not my idea of pleasant.<br />
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<strong>Refuse: </strong>teeth, bones and rubbery bits.<br />
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<strong>Head cheese</strong> is another possible meaning of "pig's head": various parts of meat, fat, tissue and tongue from the head are braised and formed into a meatloaf. Some chefs use scraps, others mix in choice pieces of meat. Some recipes call for further slicing, breading and sauteeing of the loaf. Some come with delicious sounding sauces.<br />
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It seems the possibilities are endless, which is why, when you see "pig's head" on the menu, you really should not take it at face value. Whether you willingly plunge into the unknown, or try to press for more information, try not to be in the situation we were in, where your server arrives with pig's head for dummies.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Chris Svoboda</span><br />
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</div><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/1601727/restaurant/DC/Penn-Quarter/Graffiato-Washington"><img alt="Graffiato on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1601727/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-60130610228990887692011-11-05T10:32:00.005-04:002012-01-23T16:52:00.875-05:00Shophouse Southeast Asian Kitchen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rNPkX5y5pOE/TrVHpuPeifI/AAAAAAAAAYk/ibE6vyrNkcw/s1600/Shophouse_Southeast_Asia_Kitchen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ida="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rNPkX5y5pOE/TrVHpuPeifI/AAAAAAAAAYk/ibE6vyrNkcw/s320/Shophouse_Southeast_Asia_Kitchen.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Finally, I thought, a place to get decent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_m%C3%AC">banh mi</a> in the District. The Southeast Asian version of Chipotle -- how could it be bad? But it was not to be. I ordered the chicken and pork meatball banh mi, with Asian greens (thai basil, cilantro and mint) and chopped peanuts, to go. Raced back to the office clutching my paper bag. And was profoundly disappointed.<br />
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The baguette (if you can call it that) was way too bready for banh mi, overwhelming what is supposed to be a delicate balance of flavors. Ditto for the meatballs, which were overspiced for this particular dish. No way the greens and peanuts could fulfil their task of complementing the main filling, if this is what they were up against. And that spicy meatball flavor lingered way too long after the meal, if you know what I mean....<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M24JP3C99xs/TrVH3_zD94I/AAAAAAAAAYs/4F8p2uUL9zs/s1600/Banh_Mi_Shophouse_Southeast_Asian_Kitchen_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ida="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M24JP3C99xs/TrVH3_zD94I/AAAAAAAAAYs/4F8p2uUL9zs/s320/Banh_Mi_Shophouse_Southeast_Asian_Kitchen_1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>But here's the thing. Those very meatballs get high marks from others, when served in the context of the noodle bowl. Tom Sietsema likes them. The server at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shophouse">Shophouse</a> likes them. And yesterday, when I saw the line for Shophouse spilling on to the sidewalk and asked a couple of people what they liked, the answer was: the pork and chicken noodle bowl.<br />
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So, I still want to like Shophouse, and am willing to believe that other dishes will live up to their reputation. It's quite possible that the disappointment of the banh mi -- which seems to be particularly difficult to execute properly -- is not a good reflection on the other offerings. So perhaps, sometime in the not too distant future, <a href="http://foodieheavendc.blogspot.com/p/about-this-blog.html">Antoinette Ego</a> will write something glowing about them.<br />
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</div><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/1620016/restaurant/DC/Dupont-Circle/ShopHouse-Southeast-Asian-Kitchen-Washington"><img alt="ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1620016/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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</div></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-8278791431899748562011-08-28T09:35:00.002-04:002011-08-28T09:37:18.842-04:00Choking it down on Lufthansa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_shdh8n="116"><span closure_uid_qqufmd="105" closure_uid_shdh8n="128" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Silly me. I thought airplane food was improving. Must have been those posts Antoinette Ego wrote about the meals on <a href="http://foodieheavendc.blogspot.com/2011/03/honey-pig-gooldaegee.html">Korean Air</a> and <a href="http://foodieheavendc.blogspot.com/2010/09/passion-in-air.html">Tam</a>. So thank you, Lufthansa, for bringing me back to reality. Over-peppered boiled chicken with nameless brown sauce? Now that's more like it. Limp vegetables? Yeah!</span></div><div closure_uid_shdh8n="116"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_shdh8n="116"><span closure_uid_tqatvk="105" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Antoinette Ego says: Forget about the food. Lufthansa was one of the only airlines to fly out of DC when everyone else shut down way before Hurricane Irene actually posed a problem. You got where you were going, didn't you? So stop whining.</span></div></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-33117976227360709082011-07-30T07:11:00.007-04:002011-09-05T12:01:25.281-04:00Vinoteca<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_1fuy7x="110"><div closure_uid_oxztjt="224"><span closure_uid_3sg2ps="108" closure_uid_ge6029="106" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When your dining companion tells you that the highlight of her meal was the spiced pecans, you know that you have failed to impress. So, while Vinoteca, with its lovely decor and happening bar scene, is surely date-worthy, here are some menu items to avoid:</span></div></div><div closure_uid_1fuy7x="110" closure_uid_oxztjt="197"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div closure_uid_1fuy7x="110" closure_uid_oxztjt="236"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xfOGvCLYEmE/TjPlTTWi0mI/AAAAAAAAARo/6bvdkujCl_M/s1600/Vinoteca_Duck_Prosciutto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xfOGvCLYEmE/TjPlTTWi0mI/AAAAAAAAARo/6bvdkujCl_M/s320/Vinoteca_Duck_Prosciutto.JPG" t$="true" width="320px" /></span></a></div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><div closure_uid_oxztjt="272"><span closure_uid_6ft5qd="97" closure_uid_mfsbny="98" closure_uid_oxztjt="243" closure_uid_t1x8q="106" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Duck Prosciutto was the main culprit. Readers will know that Antoinette Ego is a big fan of prosciutto, especially <a href="http://foodieheavendc.blogspot.com/2010/07/dino-wild-about-boar.html">boar prosciutto</a>, but duck is a different animal. Think about it for a moment. The wild boar is a lean old codger, what with all that running around foraging in the woods. Duck, on the other hand, is plump by nature, needing to be bouyant in the water. And farm raised duck, which are often <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras">force-fed</a> (yes, with a funnel) to fatten them up for foie gras, are especially fatty. Nancy pronounced the duck prosicutto "too rich," which turned out to be a euphemism for "inedible". Whatever flavor the duck had to impart was lost in fatty tastelessness.</span></div></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_oxztjt="147" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><span closure_uid_w2ll4x="108" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">White wines by the glass: we sampled one from the lower end of the price spectrum (Seven Sisters Buketraube from South Africa, $8) and one from the medium range (Louis Michel & Fils Chablis from France, $14), both of which were forgettable. You may have to splurge on the upper end ($16) to find something memorable. </span></div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><span closure_uid_67bki9="110" closure_uid_oxztjt="235" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The best dish was the ahi tuna appetizer. Sleek and fresh, I would say this was better than the average ahi tuna appetizer. Recommended.</span></div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I also spied some intriguing items on the menu that I would be tempted to try if I ever found myself back at Vinoteca. The cheese flights in particular. There is a "cow flight", a "sheep flight" and a "goat flight". If you can find the right wines to pair with these, you may have the makings of a good date.</span></div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Antoinette Id</span></em></div><div closure_uid_oxztjt="108"><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/572394/restaurant/DC/U-Street-Shaw/Vinoteca-Washington"><img alt="Vinoteca on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/572394/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-44937952762298515072011-07-06T21:19:00.020-04:002011-07-13T20:00:26.815-04:00Burger Bookends – a burger to die for and one to die from<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: #990000; color: cyan; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Guest Post by Chris</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Imagine, if you will, an Iron Chef-like bacon cheeseburger challenge. The ingredients: beef, cheese, onion, bacon, greens and tomatoes. The unknowing challengers: </span><a href="http://www.bistrobethem.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Bistro Bethem</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> of Fredericksburg, VA and </span><a href="http://www.cobbcinebistro.com/stonypoint-info.asp"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Cine Bistro</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> of Richmond, VA. One is a good hour drive from my house and the other only 10 minutes. I will gladly drive the hour to have another burger at Bistro Bethem; the trip to Cine Bistro is not worth the gas.</span><br />
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</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Bethem’s creation was the most beautiful and greatest tasting burger EVER!!!! (and I’ve eaten QUITE a few). Their burger was made with Painted Hills Ranch all natural American Kobe beef, asiago, caramelized onions, bacon aioli, pea shoots, tomato and shoestring potatoes, all piled as high as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenga">Jenga tower</a>. The burger was thick, juicy and hot, the onions perfectly caramelized, the cheese not too soft and not too melted, the bun (aaah, the bun) toasted and branded on top with a “B”, nice touch. But what was a most wonderful surprise was the fresh crisp crunch of the pea shoots piled high on the burger complemented nicely by the crispy shoestring potatoes. YUM! </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
</div><div class="separator" dir="ltr" style="clear: both; text-align: center;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4WR1s4OmECU/ThWKBLTOLCI/AAAAAAAAARQ/Ts8HXq7h4BI/s1600/Bistro_Bethem_Burger_B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205px" m$="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4WR1s4OmECU/ThWKBLTOLCI/AAAAAAAAARQ/Ts8HXq7h4BI/s320/Bistro_Bethem_Burger_B.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div align="center" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
</div><div class="separator" dir="ltr" style="clear: both; text-align: center;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h2Nvg_nVY5g/ThUIGbs5JFI/AAAAAAAAARE/6zLx_jgQ1-4/s1600/Bistro_Bethem_Burger_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" m$="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h2Nvg_nVY5g/ThUIGbs5JFI/AAAAAAAAARE/6zLx_jgQ1-4/s320/Bistro_Bethem_Burger_1.jpg" width="229px" /></a></div><div class="separator" dir="ltr" style="clear: both; text-align: center;" trbidi="on"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" dir="ltr" style="clear: both; text-align: center;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cJRI1_vaW8I/ThWKGclDjuI/AAAAAAAAARU/U4fXU2wg0DA/s1600/Bistro_Bethem_Burger_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180px" m$="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cJRI1_vaW8I/ThWKGclDjuI/AAAAAAAAARU/U4fXU2wg0DA/s320/Bistro_Bethem_Burger_3.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Words don’t exist to describe this burger. Which is why after pretty much every bite (with my mouth full) I mumbled “oh my god this is the best burger I’ve ever tasted”. By the fifth bite Davida said I either had to write a post about it or shut up. You can see how that ended.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Cine Bistro, a new take in the dining-while-watching-a-movie concept, is another story. I eagerly placed my order for their Double Feature Burger – Black Angus Beef, Smithfield bacon, cheddar cheese, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and special sauce. What a perfect night this was going to be – a movie, a great burger, a Red Stripe and thick cozy chairs to sink into. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Moments after our order arrived, we discovered that there is something inherently wrong with the way they run their food operation. The overcooked burger appeared to have been pre-cooked and heated up prior to being served. The special sauce was non-existent. I requested ketchup and mustard because a burger as dry as this one needed something to make it edible (and the Red Stripe alone wasn’t going to cut it). I then waited, and waited, and waited. Then I asked a different waiter. And got to wait some more. By the time the condiments finally arrived, most diners had finished their meals and my burger was cold, the bun soggy and the cheese a limp gelatinous piece of rubber. At this point not even the condiments were going to save it. It should also be noted that this burger was so bad that I don’t even remember what movie we saw that night. The burger disaster far overshadowed the film. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">They were both dealt the same hands, but for a mere 3 dollars more, Bistro Bethem’s $16 burger was hands down the winner.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Overall comments about the bistros:</strong> </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><u>Bistro Bethem</u>: <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Bistro Bethem has never disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their ever-changing menu is always original and when coupled with perfection of preparation and presentation, is a guaranteed palate pleaser.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><u>Cine Bistro</u>: <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I now understand why patrons must pay their tab including 17% gratuity BEFORE being served.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s so when you realize that it’s the worst service ever you have no recourse.</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
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</div><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/49/1589198/restaurant/Fernleigh/CineBistro-Stony-Point-Fashion-Park-Richmond"><img alt="CinéBistro Stony Point Fashion Park on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1589198/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-57043272529190054992011-06-15T06:40:00.004-04:002011-06-16T08:41:42.959-04:00Gloria Jean's Coffee -- Istanbul airport<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ahLmkSqZdtU/TfiJzGCRHtI/AAAAAAAAAP4/QIRN6-wHsYY/s1600/Gloria_Jean%2527s_Coffee_Istanbul_airport.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210px" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ahLmkSqZdtU/TfiJzGCRHtI/AAAAAAAAAP4/QIRN6-wHsYY/s320/Gloria_Jean%2527s_Coffee_Istanbul_airport.gif" t8="true" width="320px" /></a>Antoinette Ego has a lot of nice things to say about the food in Turkey, doesn't she?* Yadda, yadda, yadda. Whatever. But did you notice she didn't mention anything about the coffee? That's because the coffee in Turkey sucks! What about Turkish coffee, you say? Surprisingly, Turkish coffee is not served that much anymore. After the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the loss of the Arabian countries, coffee fell from favor, and tea growing was subsidized in the Black Sea region. Today guests are more likely to be served tea than Turkish coffee. And at hotels, which feel obliged to offer coffee with breakfast, filter coffee is the norm. Bad filter coffee, that is. The very worst of the bad filter coffee can be found at airports. Our departure from Istanbul featured a cup of Gloria Jean's coffee at Ataturk International. OMG. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><em>Antoinette Id</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">* A. Ego's posts:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://foodieheavendc.blogspot.com/2011/06/istanbul-delights-with-notes.html">Istanbul Delights, with notes</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://foodieheavendc.blogspot.com/2011/06/goreme-for-gourmands.html">Goreme for Gourmands</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://foodieheavendc.blogspot.com/2011/06/gumus-cafe-mezze-to-die-for-bodrum.html">Mezze to Die For</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-81803931424506800062011-06-05T14:04:00.009-04:002011-06-05T16:15:06.583-04:00Alero -- Cleveland Park<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have nothing against Alero. The Cleveland Park location has a cozy interior for warming up in winter, and a pleasant deck for slurping decent margaritas in the summer. Those features can make up for ho-hum Mexican food. But last week I ventured beyond the Mexican standards to try the ceviche (strictly speaking a Peruvian dish) and the spare rib fajitas (which turned out to be an unhappy marriage of Chinese sweet and sour flavors with Mexican style grilled onions and peppers inside a cardboard textured, too-small pancake). My wrathful eye is particularly trained on the mealy ceviche and its distasteful spices. This dish depends on its freshness and tart lime and seafood flavors, neither of which were delivered here. Not even two pitchers of margaritas on a lovely summer evening could wash away the memory of inedibility, which lingered into the next day. The loss of Sabores from the neighborhood is felt ever more acutely.</span><br />
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<em>Antoinette Id</em></div><br />
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/100131/restaurant/DC/Cleveland-Park/Alero-Washington"><img alt="Alero on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/100131/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-71593977837041552252011-03-02T22:30:00.008-05:002011-03-22T11:26:21.439-04:00Brasserie Beck<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Three people, three dishes, three disasters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Such was our evening at Brasserie Beck. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Here they are in order of ascending offensiveness: my dish, the<em> "Long Island Duck Cassoulet",</em> served on a bed of inedible, over-buttered couscous, was perhaps the least offensive. Chris, craving meat, had ordered the <em>"Bistro Filet"</em> with seasonal vegetables, bordelaise and bearnaise sauce, and frites. A self-described "sauce person", she no doubt ordered the dish because it came with not one but two sauces. She was disappointed though. "It tastes like mud," she said, making a face. I took a bite from her proferred fork and got a mouthful of fat and gristle. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">But the dish to die from was Barri's: mussels with applewood smoked bacon and truffle cream. Barri seemed excited about these ingredients when she selected this dish, but it turned out not to be a winning combination. My taste produced a turn of the stomach as the strong scents of smoke, bacon and truffle competed with each other to overpower the molluscs, and cream heightened the richness to unacceptable levels. Barri did not look happy and I understood why. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-vXa4wiHKs98/TW8K4tRbEfI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/sP_hqgkTLWA/s1600/Brasserie_Beck_mussels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" l6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-vXa4wiHKs98/TW8K4tRbEfI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/sP_hqgkTLWA/s400/Brasserie_Beck_mussels.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">As it turned out, the only enjoyable dish of the evening was the complimentary platter of charcuterie, which we had received at the bar while having to wait almost an hour for our (reserved) table.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">For those who will be lured to Brasserie Beck by the Living Social deal that is floating around until 08/06/11, I suggest sticking to a basic mussels with white wine, garlic and parsley. I wouldn't trust the kitchen with anything innovative, but I did see happy faces enjoying this Belgian classic. And it comes with rather sexy looking frites.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><em>Antoinette Id</em></span><br />
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</div><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/100727/restaurant/DC/Downtown/Brasserie-Beck-Washington"><img alt="Brasserie Beck on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/100727/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-87751557388731684462011-02-03T22:42:00.017-05:002012-03-27T19:47:59.249-04:00Hank's: In the holding pen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">How do you feel about the restaurant policy of not seating you until the full party is present? There is an elaborate discussion of that in Chowhound, which you can check out <a href="http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/488496">here</a>. For me, I can see both sides of the issue, and rather than take sides, I argue that it is all about how the policy is executed.<br />
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Here are my criteria for how such a policy could work successfully:<br />
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1) Have a spacious bar or other area where people can wait for their full party to assemble<br />
2) Be flexible: if it is early in the evening and/or there are tables available, consider seating the early arrivals.<br />
3) A good attitude can go a long way.<br />
4) So can really good food (maybe).<br />
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One restaurant that flunks abysmally on all these criteria is Hank's Oyster Bar. They have a tiny bar area, a completely inflexible policy, and a sucky attitude in enforcing it (hmmm...maybe inflexibility and sucky attitude go hand in hand). But it is the lack of appropriate space for incomplete parties that is the clincher for me at Hank's: if you are doomed to arrive ahead of your dining companions, and the tiny bar is full, and if it happens to be a cold winter night, precluding you from strolling around on the sidewalk -- well, then, your only alternative is to wait in Hank's Holding Pen, a tiny area between the hostess' podium and the door, which is further cordoned off from the restaurant by a thick curtain. Perhaps these indignities may be worthwhile if the food was really to die for, but frankly, after multiple visits -- and really <em>wanting </em>to love Hank's, after all the hype -- it's really not. <br />
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<u>Update, September 13, 2011:</u> Since I first posted about Hank's, the restaurant has expanded and now has a bigger bar and a lounge area. So, the problem of having a dignified place to wait for your party has been addressed. Attitude and food are about the same. And the curtain rod (though not the curtain) is still in place near where the hostess' podium used to stand (look for it on the ceiling in the front right hand side of the dining room). On the bright side, the cheese bar upstairs looks tempting, and I do think the private room is quite beautiful. <br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/102686/restaurant/DC/Dupont-Circle/Hanks-Oyster-Bar-Washington"><img alt="Hank's Oyster Bar on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/102686/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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</div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-672646247245398023.post-31598571266030893862011-01-11T21:52:00.006-05:002011-01-14T12:02:06.347-05:00Faux BordeauxThe first time I went to Bistrot du Coin was with a dashing Italian man that worked at the World Bank. I have no memory of what we ate, but we laughed and drank a lot, and it seemed so very European. Ever since then, that feeling of romance has been what has brought me back to the place, and when I finally started paying attention to the food, it did not matter much that the steak frites were nothing to write home about. But last week, something happened to break the Gallic spell. Celebrating a colleague's birthday, I ordered a bottle of Bordeaux Blanc. I realize that this generic name invited a bit of risk, but I was not expecting to be served something was not only nasty but that wasn't even a Bordeaux! Closer inspection revealed that it was from the Languedoc region in the south of France (not the most prestigious of wine producing regions, admits my friend H, who grew up there). Astonishingly, our waiter insisted that this was the "Bordeaux du jour", and shrugged unconcernedly when we pointed out that the regions were not interchangeable. When we refused dessert in protest, he brought us some calvados on the house, just to take the edge off. Okay, nice gesture. But still, in a place that so heavily relies on creating a French ambience, the last thing it needs to do is to serve a faux bordeaux. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RHR7XDJdUvs/TS0VcGmtBOI/AAAAAAAAAHI/3frYacB4lNU/s1600/map_of_french_wine_regions.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RHR7XDJdUvs/TS0VcGmtBOI/AAAAAAAAAHI/3frYacB4lNU/s400/map_of_french_wine_regions.gif" width="352" /></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Map courtesy of <a href="http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/">http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/100617/restaurant/DC/Dupont-Circle/Bistrot-Du-Coin-Washington"><img alt="Bistrot Du Coin on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/100617/biglink.gif" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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</div>Antoinette Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522563139153015970noreply@blogger.com0