DonRocks

You have good reason to be excited - I'm certain the residents of Crystal City are too. Please let us know when you have any new, substantive information to share with us about Oyamel - we'll all enjoy hearing it! And congratulations in advance on your new restaurant. Until then, Rocks.

Welcome to you also, Achaia. If you two wish to identify yourselves and discuss aspects of your new restaurants on this thread, that will be most welcome. So please reconsider letting us know who you are if you wish to discuss Oyamel and Jaleo in Crystal City - it would be a win-win situation for all involved. Also, please feel free to PM me if you have any concerns that you don't wish to discuss publically. If you must wait until the restaurants open to discuss specifics, then that's okay too, but make sure you don't keep posting here unless you're willing to get into some depth and substance. Kind regards, and once again, welcome to the forum. Rocks.

eunny, I think if you're going to make the time to be this aggressive about an individual in an opening posting, you need to find the time to do the exhaustive archive review you mention in order to support your argument. You say she is "dead wrong a lot of the time," but about what? Kim O'Donnel has been at this for a long time, and there's simply no way you can expect to come in here and write a posting such as this and not be challenged to justify it. Although I'm not qualified to comment on Kim's work (I'm definitely geared more towards the restaurant end of things, and less towards the cooking end), I know that she's respected and liked. The one time I met her, we chatted for awhile at the bar at Equinox, and I found her to be both charming and knowledgable. When I read your initial posting, I felt a very real twinge of uneasiness, and so I feel obliged to chime in and suggest a bit more rigor behind the allegations. Cheers, Rocks.

Good luck! I heard Pixie and Bill's is still open, but it might be in more keeping with that feisty Tiger spirit if you hit Nick's during happy hour and get some fried mushrooms (don't wear sandals or they'll stick to the floor and come off). Definitely go to the Argicultural Center on campus and get one of their superb milkshakes and some excellent blue cheese to go. Cheers, Rocks.

Welcome to the forum, ScooterPie, and I think people here appreciate you disclosing that you're associated with Oyamel in some way, even though you choose to retain your anonymity at this time. When I saw the tentative list of wines for Oyamel a few months ago, I was quite impressed (not that I know very much about Mexican wines) - didn't they have something like thirty red wines alone from that country? Is Manuel Iguina still slated to be GM there? Cheers, Rocks.

Cruise ship, tour bus, Four Sisters ... they all come to mind when dining at Duangrat's. There is so much here not to offend that it's offensive. Sweet and spicy lie together in the same bed, like a stale twenty-year-old marriage where the husband and wife lie apart and in opposition to one another. Everything is so safe, and so dull at the same time. There is nothing wrong with the food, but there is no depth or soul in the sauce, and this cannot be written for a brochure. The strengths of Duangrat's are its welcoming interior and friendly, professional staff. These are every bit as essential now as they were seventeen years ago, when the cicadas emerged from the ground, Washingtonian in hand, fearing the Thai food as if it were the plague. There is a beautiful Buddhist allegory to describe A Single Day in the universe, and it goes something like this: On the summit of the highest mountain in the world, a lone bird appears in the horizon, approaching with a silk scarf in her talons. As she crosses the peak of the mountain, she swoops down and lightly brushes the scarf against the earth, and then flies away into the distance. One thousand years later the bird comes again, passing over the mountaintop with her scarf and brushing it lightly, and then leaving not to return again for another millenium. Each and every thousand years the bird returns, and eventually the mountain is worn down to the level of the sea. At that point A Single Day has passed in the life of the universe, and given that perspective of time, it will be another ten years before I feel the need to return to Duangrat's. Cheers, Rocks.

I got permission to reprint a couple of interesting pieces regarding Make Them Pay, and I include them here for your reading pleasure. These must be taken in proper context: they are part of an ongoing discussion that occurred in a private forum, and are not intended to be standalone pieces. Still, I thought they stood alone well enough to share them here (with the authors' explicit permission). The first is from Mark DeVere, Master of Wine. To put that title into context, there are currently only 242 Masters of Wine in the world, and Mark is the North American Education Director for the organization (The Institute of Masters of Wine), as well as a current employee of Robert Mondavi. He stressed to me, however, that these thoughts are his, and his alone, and are in no way affiliated with either The Institute of Masters of Wine or Robert Mondavi. The second is from the inimitable John Gilman, a wine professional for many years and former sommelier at both Gotham Bar and Grill and Picholine in New York City. Cheers, Rocks.

One unusual thing about Curry Club is their Friday-afternoon delivery service to Northwest DC, Bethesda, McLean, Great Falls and Sterling. If you go here, sign up for "the club" and get your order in by Thursday afternoon, you'll have food appear at your doorstep on Friday (no word on how the "bubble and squeak" samosas will survive the voyage out to the hinterlands!) Rocks.

In the interest of full disclosure, a trusted friend of mine just went to a restaurant in New York City that has been open for only three weeks, called, nor surprisingly, Cru. According to him, the wine list there has 66 (yes, sixty-six) PAGES of red Burgundies. Supposedly, the prices are quite good, too. I realize this has little to do with Vin, but in light of my first posting (and the fact that it's getting so much attention, which is making me squirm a bit), I thought I should add this. Cheers! Rocks.

I had a terrible meal at Homer Dalors.

Between dine-in and carry-out, I've been to 2 Amy's more than any other restaurant in Washington DC, so that should tell you what I think. This ranks right up there with my all-time favorite pizza, and Peter Pastan is a genius for having opened this restaurant when he did. (I suspect many people here know this, but for those who don't, "suppli al telefono" means "telephone cord," and when you bite into the risotto ball, pulling it away from your gullet, a long, thin cord of cheese will be formed, hence the name.) Cheese, Rocks. [P.S. as I merge this thread, I note eunny jang's comments down below, and I should add that I've only been to 2 Amy's perhaps twice this year - I've never liked the deviled eggs or the suppli al telefono, but the pizza has always been at least very good, and it usually hovers somewhere up in the outstanding range.]

There's no template, but there are some things people might want to keep in mind in order to produce a truly useful posting. Before clicking on "Add Reply," ask yourselves the following: 1) Is this posting about the topic in the title? 2) Is it of general interest to the group as a whole, and if someone new came into the forum and read it, would it be of any use to them? With the enormous increase in traffic in this forum lately, there has been a corresponding increase in social postings, insider jokes, and one-line replies. These types of postings should really be confined to those specific threads that imply them (e.g., the "I Saw You!" thread, or the various eGullet outing threads.) It's important to remember, especially as this forum continues to grow, that it's a quasi-database of information for both regular and non-regular participants, and too much off-topic chatter will dilute this valuable aspect of the forum. Please don't misinterpret what I'm saying here: the social aspect is an important part of this forum, but it cannot come at the expense of content. And to lead by example ... given that this thread is about Palena, and given that this posting isn't ... I'll delete this in a couple of days (but I know everyone reads this thread, so I'll leave it here for now). Cheers! Rocks.

Only one way to do this: sit at the counter, get a chili-dog and a milkshake, revel in the Black-American history (seriously, picture a black-owned restaurant 45 years ago, just 4 years after Brown vs. Board of Education), and treat it like Gault-Millau treats Paul Bocuse: beyond classification. With respect and reverence, Rocks. P.S. Rudy Maxa on Ben's Chili Bowl here.

There are two places, both in North Georgetown: "The Wine Rack" (part of Bottom Line Wine) and as Mark says, "Wide World of Wine." Both are expensive and both have good storage, one traditional difference being that The Wine Rack used to only be open on weekends (not sure about now). Availability has been a problem so call soon. Cheers, Rocks.

The owner's answer to your second question begs a third question, based on his(her?) answer to your first. If they're going to be retailing artisanal and high-quality industrial cheeses, cutting them to order, etc., then how is this different than Formaggio Kitchen in Boston or Artisanal in New York? This is merely a request for clarification, since if this place is anything even close to those two, I'll be darkening their door so often that they may as well begin calling me The Shadow. Yet it disturbs me that they say they're going to be sourcing the finest cheeses from around the world, but aren't going to be importing them when they're young (and subsequently aging them in-house.) This seems like almost a deal-breaker, and sends up the Red Flag From Hell should they want to compete on the national stage. Eagerly, Rocks.

It's really tough to explain. It's just how I am. And I wasn't always like this. I can't put my finger on an event that changed my behavior. The answer could be as simple as I treat people how I'd like to be treated. Or it could be that the chef community in this city is pretty tight. Well John may not like me posting this, but I'll do it anyway: Saturday evening was the first night after the Post article came out and dropped the bomb on Galileo. John knew I was going, and took time off at the beginning of Firefly's service to go pay respect to Roberto Donna, having a drink and a small plate of food there before rushing back to his own restaurant despite serious peer pressure from me to stay longer. He didn't even send word back to the kitchen that he made an appearance; he just showed up, paid Roberto his respects, and hustled out of there. This is precisely the type of thing I was referring to in this question, and is one of the reasons why John is so well-liked in this community.

I'll go against common wisdom and say that I had a perfectly decent meal at the bar at Fin a few months ago. I can't remember exactly what I had (something simple like soup and a crabcake perhaps?), but I remember leaving being pleasantly surprised. I had actually stopped in last Tuesday to say hello to the GM (now posting on eGullet), but they looked pretty busy, so I left that for next time. Cheers, Rocks.

This evening I'll be at Osteria del Galileo, inaugurating the comeback of the one of the greatest and most important dining establishments this city has ever known.

Of course if you could get that exact same cleaning in your own home for $45... I'll save Mark the trouble of replying: "Well, then stay home!"

The cream will rise to the top my friend ... and, if you study the above list, you'll see that it often curdles once it gets there!

[Editor's note: if people post or PM about specific dates, I'll be happy to update this list as time permits (but I won't continue to issue new postings; I'll simply edit the existing one.)]

Hoo boy, I had forgotten all about this thing.

(this is a work-in-progress and very incomplete; dates not guaranteed accurate; restaurants with more than one location will have only the oldest location listed; present-day names are used (i.e., I doubt Luigi's was "Famous" back in 1943!)) 1856 - Old Ebbitt Grill (present location since 1983) 1860 - Old Angler's Inn 1904 - Royal Restaurant (present location since 1964) 1906 - Occidental Grill (closed 1972-1986) 1930 - Mrs. K's Toll House (Mrs. K is Mrs. Kreuzburg) 1933 - Billy Martin's Tavern (Opened the day after prohibition was repealed) 1937 - Red Fox Inn 1941 - O'Donnell's Seafood (present location since 2001) 1943 - Famous Luigi's 1945 - Crisfield Seafood 1946 - Tastee Diner (Silver Spring) 1947 - 29 Diner 1947 - Woodside Deli 1948 - Old Europe 1949 - AV Ristorante Italiano (AV is Augusto Vasaio) 1949 - Blackie's 1954 - L'Auberge Chez Francois (present location since 1976) 1954 - Jerry's Subs and Pizza (Wheaton) 1955 - Ledo Pizza (Adelphi) 1955 - Tune Inn 1955 - Yenching Palace 1957 - The Brickskeller 1958 - Ben's Chili Bowl 1959 - Market Inn 1961 - Loeb's Perfect New York Deli (present location since 1979) 1962 - 1789 1963 - Clyde's (Georgetown) 1965 - Bay 'n Surf 1966 - The Guards 1966 - Japan Inn (present location since 1971) 1967 - Childe Harold 1969 - Bob & Edith's Diner 1970 - Roy's Place 1973 - Anita's (Vienna) 1973 - Stained Glass Pub 1973 - Vietnam Georgetown 1974 - Cafe La Ruche 1975 - Armand's Chicago Pizzeria (Tenley Circle) 1975 - Bistro Francais 1975 - Celebrity Delly (Falls Church(?)) 1975 - The Cracked Claw at Peter Pan (present location since 1989) 1976 - La Chaumiere 1976 - Gadsby's Tavern 1976 - The Prime Rib 1976 - Sushi-Ko 1977 - Geranio 1978 - Peking Gourmet Inn 1978 - Pistone's Italian Inn 1979 - 219 1979 - Nora I know of a bunch of others, but don't have specific dates. P.S. Surely this compendium has been done before, no? P.P.S. Mr. K's was 1983 - related to Mrs. K? Hmm...

Thank you, John, not only for being such a valuable member of this forum, but also for all the great things you've done at Firefly. We'll be tracking you closely...

That must have been a serious wedge of cabbage!