DonRocks

Agreed, the asparagus is a great dish (it's listed as grilled asparagus with spicy beans and ricotta salata). The service at Kuna is hors classe (no, that has nothing to do with the puttanesca being translated on the menu as "whore's sauce"). Every by-the-glass red wine is available when you walk in, gratis, in a little tasting pour at the back bar (note: there are no seats at this bar; it's just a tiny standing area). However, I had gone straight to the table when I walked in, and at the end of the meal my server noticed that I left my glass of red wine untouched, asking me if I didn't like it. "It was a little too warm," I said, and then went back to enjoying my fine glass of Sicilian white (you should order a bottle of this) after he cleared the table. The glass of red wine was removed from the check without any request by me to do so. Repeat: I had a chance to taste all the red wines beforehand, chose not to, ordered a red wine with my main course, didn't drink it, and it was removed from the tab without any request by me to do so. How generous is that? Kuna is a wonderful neighborhood restaurant, and a little bit of New York in Washington. You can pick at the flaws, but it isn't worth it to do so: Kuna is worth the trip for service alone. Get the table by the front window, read a fascinatingly cheesy book (there are several to choose from), and revel in the casual friendliness of the staff. Cheers, Rocks. P.S. The owners of Kuna and Komi had a dyslexic child who subsequently opened a restaurant called "Amok."

The best thing people can do for Yanyu is to go the week after Restaurant Week. Otherwise, I fear, we'll all be sitting around five years from now reminiscing about it.

Here's a 7/15/04 NY Times article about Rehoboth Beach.

:-/

About 18 months ago, I had dinner at Bistro 309 in Fredricksburg, having done some research beforehand. Jay Comfort was executive chef there at the time before coming up to Washington to run Poste. Alert, alert: on May 20, 2004, Bistro 309 was sold to current executive chef Blake Bethem (who has worked in the kitchen there for three years, presumably with Jay), and the restaurant has reopened under the name Bistro Bethem. No clue as to the current quality level, but it may be worth investigating.

It's interesting to see three negative comments on Fortune. I had originally typed "good dim sum" and changed it to "great dim sum" for whatever reason. For Chinese New Years, I went to Fortune in Seven Corners and had a full-blown, multi-course traditional banquet. This meal was arranged by my Chinese-American friend, and I alerted her to this discussion. She did not actually read this thread, so please keep in mind that these comments are simply a reply to my email rather than a direct response to anyone posting here: based upon the casual dinner we had and the spectacular new year's banquet --stand the ground for quality and authentic chinese food.. if these people are ordering commercial chinese dishes this could be a problem. it could be that there is a secondary cook for commercial dishes. i have not tried the dim sum. this is akin to people complaining about "baby food" (puree) and "small portions" (multi courses creating the total dining experience and not just eating to satiate the appetite) in nouvelle cuisine. few americans distinguish the difference in cultural expression as compared to personal taste and lack of knowledge/experience. Also, I double-checked with my Chinese friend who lives in Herndon - we had dim sum at the Reston Fortune a couple of months ago. The third sentence of her reply is rather cryptic, and I'm not sure how to interpret it: The dim sum at Fortune is very good. It is typical Cantonese food. Of course there are more Cantonese food. Fortune is good at serving dim sum. On the May 29, 2003 Washington Post online chat with Jeffrey Tunks, he mentioned that he enjoys Fortune's dim sum: Jeff Tunks: For late night, Full Kee, in China Town - not much atmosphere but great food. For dim sum, in Virginia, I go to Fortune and Maxim Palace. For Thai food, I like Rabieng, also in Virginia. I also go to Pho 75 for pho. And for sushi and Japanese I go to Kaz and Sushiko. So anyway, three more data points to what is proving to be an interesting discussion. Robert Shoffner, are you out there? Your opinions would be valued and appreciated. Rocks.

Tom: cruise.

Do invectives taste as good coming up as they do going down? I wish that were the case. It was late, I had been to several places, and was toting around this magnum of sake in a brown paper bag (a magnum is a double-sized bottle). I walked into Baja Fresh and was looking at the menu when, all of a sudden, the bag dropped from my hand and hit the ground. The bottle had broken into several pieces, but had not shattered, and wine was spewing out of it. Furious and seething, I picked up the bag and sprinted for the bathroom because wine was leaking through the bag and pouring all over the floor. I quickly put the bag into the little disposal thing under the paper towel dispenser, all the while screaming expletives like a dockworker who had just dropped something heavy on his foot. I peaked inside the bag, saw that there was still a big hunk of the bottle with some sake left in it, and said, damn it, I was going to at least taste the stuff, so I fished out the jagged piece of bottle and was just about to try and drink from it when I realized that I was on the verge of drinking shards of broken glass. At that point, I wrote it off as a total loss, stormed out of the bathroom cursing mightily, and continued into the night.

It has been a long day, with a lot of exercise, no breakfast and no lunch. Starving and despondent after staring down an empty refrigerator, it was time for China Star carryout. The Spicy Emperor Duck was in one of those clear-plastic quart containers. I opened it and I think there was an eye and a beak staring back at me, but I'm not quite sure as it's offered in a dark brown sauce. I dumped the whole thing into a mixing bowl and had at it, with the same gusto and elegance as a hungry gorilla eating a full rack of ribs. Wielding a fork in my right hand and picking up bony chunks with my left, feeling the same desperation as Lucy and Ethel trying to pluck chocolates off the conveyor belt, I scarfed it like a hyena, finishing the entire meal in about ten minutes. And now I sit here, looking at a plate full of bones, and an empty bowl of broth, and I realize that I might have just eaten duck testicles.

Hi gear02, and welcome to the forum. I checked with a Chinese friend of mine living in Herndon, and the official answer is "no." However, there is great Cantonese dim sum at Fortune restaurant in Reston. I've had it there, and it's every bit as good as the Fortune in Seven Corners. Paradoxically, Fortune seems to me like it's both too little-known, and also too well-known. Everyone has heard of it, but nobody ever talks about it. It gets highly praised, but seemingly always from meaningless sources such as the Washingtonian. This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but hopefully some other posters will chime in. Cheers, Rocks.

Do sushi bars count? If so, Kaz Sushi Bistro has a good selection of sake by the bottle, conveniently grouped according to "type" (elegant, fruity, etc.). They also offer a tasting flight of six different sakes, served on a little paper mat that has been marked to indicate which sake has which type of characteristics. It's a fine sample platter, and a good primer as well. I'm almost certain Calvert-Woodley and MacArthur would have a good selection of sakes. And don't ask John W about what happened the last time I walked into the Wine Enthusiast with him and purchased a magnum of sake. (Hint for the curious: I ended up hurling invectives in the bathroom of Baja Fresh.) Cheers, Rocks.

It sounds like the theory behind this is that the more people that vote, the more "finely honed" the ratings will be. Should we be looking for harmonic convergence with Washingtonian's reader polls sometime in 2006? "Honey! It's our anniversary next week!" "So where will we dine, snookums? I've been dying for some Asian..." "Hold on, let me go online!" <type type type> "Okay let's decide between Benihana and Tony Cheng's!" And what happens when the inertia of months- or years-worth of ratings establish a restaurant at a certain level ... and then the chef leaves overnight?

I understand, and I certainly wouldn't want this interview to become controversial. But do you know of any chefs having sex with their employees? (View the collective reaction of DC area chefs waiting for Todd's reply)

Todd, We want gossip! We want dirt! Name some restaurants, name some names! We're not letting you out of this interview until you say at least one thing you'll regret later.

Todd, Any guilty pleasures that you're embarrassed to admit to? I confess to having a Wendy's spicy chicken filet this week. Okay, so I had two. Do you consider yourself a food critic or a food writer, or a mixture of both? Or maybe you feel that neither term is necessary to describe what you do?

Okay, I've been to the dining room of Le Paradou twice now, and have had a full meal at the bar once, and multiple desserts and drinks twice, for a total of five visits. My friend there with me this evening, who had never been before, summed up her thoughts quite succinctly while we were walking out the door: "this place is going to go belly-up." There's no question that statement was premature, but things aren't starting out on the right track, either. Nobody in his right mind questions the culinary abilities of Yannick Cam. He is one of the greatest technical cooks ever to set foot in Washington. I do not, however, assign the unquestioned genius to him that some others have. He is a great cook, a world-class cook, but a very flawed chef from what I have observed. The service at Le Paradou is impossibly stilted and affected, making the diner feel uncomfortable and squiggly. Standing in front of a patron with a fake smile, with one hand placed firmly behind your back does not make you good at what you do; quite to the contrary, it's annoying as hell, and a clear sign that you're inexperienced and green. I have seen two - precisely, two - people on staff there that I would consider to be honest, genuine, forthcoming and welcoming. When Yannick is in the kitchen, which has occurred on occasion but not each time, the food has often been brilliant. However, when he has been sitting in the bar area, also which has occurred on occasion, the food has been inconsistent. Witness the brilliant cream of mousseron soup with parma-wrapped scallops brought as a first course the other night. Profound, deep, complex, and worthy of any praise that could be heaped on it. Then two courses later, a loup de mer (mediterranean sea bass) with shrimp mousse and parma-wrapped scallops was an unmitigated disaster, the fish being grossly overcooked, the shrimp mousse nowhere to be found, and the parma-wrapped scallops the exact same things that were in the soup. There are other mixed examples I could site, ranging from the sublime through the mediocre to the just plain overpriced. That said, I've seen Yannick at his best, and he is truly a great cook - question: how many more years are we going to be saying this before he delivers on a consistent basis? Romain Renard, one of the greatest pastry chefs ever to set foot in Washington, has been consistently spot-on with his great desserts. Comparing his Baba au Rhum to Galileo's Baba al Rum (had the night before) is like comparing a world-class dessert to something merely ordinary. The difference in quality between the two desserts is striking. But I see nothing coming from Le Paradou, other than the sporadic genius of Yannick, or the supremely talented Romain Renard, that is worthy of a top-notch restaurant. Add to this that the Washingtonian just published a glowing review, but the restaurant is still uncrowded, the bar has the atmosphere of a crypt, and the staff still chooses to remain affected and snotty, and you have the makings of a future college course on How Not To Open A Restaurant. Le Paradou is not beyond hope, but it's certainly off to a bad start, and unless the staff begins to show some humility and starts to realize they're in the service industry, they're going to end up looking for new jobs, probably with the same chips on their shoulders, saying that they worked for the "great" Yannick Cam. Whatever, Rocks.

I was thinking more along the lines of Trattoria Alberto. But here's a better question: what are your musings, your random thoughts, your impulsive ramblings, your general philosophies on area expansionist restauranteurs and their offerings, in particular the chef-driven (Ceiba, Ten Penh), the recipe-driven (Jaleo, Zaytinya), the absentee-driven (Olives), the premise-driven (front room at Palena, tasting room at Eve), the name-driven (Clyde's), the cookie-cutter-driven (Artie's, Sweetwater Tavern)?

Welcome to eGullet, Todd, and thank you morela for doing this. So Todd, I'm dying for a couple places in town where I can wear jeans (this leaves out Prime Rib), sally up to the bar (this leaves out Montmartre), and have a decent glass of wine (this leaves out Colorado Kitchen) and a plate of great pasta (this leaves out Bistrot du Coin) without breaking the bank (this leaves out Le Paradou), and without feeling like a fashion tragedy (this leaves out Zola). Without scooping yourself, can you share with us a couple informal favorites that we've never heard of? Thanks in advance for your thoughts, Rocks.

I can't remember everywhere I went last year during Restaurant Week (though I can remember stops at Corduroy and Equinox), but I can remember the best meal I had, by a large margin, was at Yanyu.

In hindsight, maybe. But Sara, a valued member here, posted her honest thoughts, and Meshe came in and rightfully defended her turf. Sara replied to her questions, and Meshe replied to Sara's reply. The conversation took place one post at-a-time, was conducted in good faith, and worked out for the best. As an aside, there are some posts here, even with full disclosure, that border on annoying marketing (refer to the Washington City Paper Restaurant Finder thread), but I really wish more people here in the biz (and there are quite a few) would just say so, because I think it lends a degree of honesty and context to their postings. Meshe is to be applauded for disclosing that she works for Eve. Cheers, Rocks.

Who were they, how did you recognize them, and why didn't you say hello? Don't ever, repeat, don't ever go to this place - or for that matter, anyplace - with Mark Slater "for a quick snack" when it's his night off from work. Ever seen flies swarming around a turd on a hot summer day? Just try walking into a DC restaurant with Slater. I had every intention of being home early this evening. Let's see ... two hours later there had arrived in front of us, apparently from a combination of the Osteria, the main restaurant, and the Laboratorio, not sure which thing came from where... the obligatory aperitif martini for Slater, a plank full of stuffed breads, three huge glasses of wine, anchovies in green sauce, tuna and cucumber tower, fried pigs feet with candied fruit, a mushroom and peach fricasee, two amazing pasta dishes, a bottle of Tokay from Friuli, an evil cheese course, a baba al rum, and of course the obligatory digestif Captain Morgan and Diet Coke, again for Slater. Livin' La Vida Broke-a, Rocks.

Yes, some of these wines are way too expensive, even at half-price, but there are some pretty nice cherries to pick from this list as well. Prices are all over the board.

Sweetbreads!

The two could not be more different in style, A&J being a tiny, minimalist, really good northern Chinese dim-sum noodlery (I just made that word up), and China Star being a really good fiery-hot Schezuan family-style establishment. I would actually give the nudge, quality-wise, to A&J, simply because I've never had anything bad there (certain items at China Star are greasy). But this may be personal preference because I prefer a cleaner, less overtly oiled style of cooking. Cheers, Rocks.

Strawberry Shortcake, mmmmbetter.