DonRocks

3-6 PM, and after 11 Monday - Thursday, Old Ebbitt Grill has half-price raw bar specials. A Walrus Platter of $49.95 consisting of 12 oysters (customer's choice, 12 littleneck clams, 10 jumbo shrimp) is $25 (TWENTY FIVE) dollars. A dozen oysters, customer's choice is $10. There cannot be anything better than this in the city of Washington. Two-thousand covers per day, and the high-turnover implies fresh seafood and encourages big discounts. I love Old Ebbitt for happy-hour raw bar, there is nothing better. Never let it be said I'm against corporate restaurants, because with this one we have shitloads of great raw oysters without worrying about what's good and what's bad. Old Ebbitt is in the Clyde's chain of restuarants, they have a lot of employees, and they purchase a titanic amount of seafood, which makes a good formula for high-quality, cheap oysters (which take labor but no skilled technique). Is Old Ebbitt Grill the best place in the city for raw bar, especially when it's half-price at happy-hour? I've never seen anything better than this, and I have to recommend everyone here going to scarf with energy, fervor and zest. Cheers, Rocks. A theory we came up with this evening about Wellfleet oysters: "the bigger, the blacker the blotch, the badder the bivalve." Is this true or not?

Robin (General Manager at Colorado Kitchen) contacted me about this, and gave me permission to post her comments. Fess up, how many of you really knew Gillian was pronounced with a hard G? Be glad her last name isn't Zyeland. -------- "Was doing a little "Colorado Kitchen" surfing and ran across your eGullet post regarding our email blast. I thought I'd just put out there, for the record, that Gillian never intended to rename herself "Chef". The name Chef is just easier for the multitudes that can't pronounce Gillian...mostly the staff. You'd be amused to hear folks trying to form a hard G sound with their mouths. After repeating "Gillian" for the third time she goes back to 'Chef'."

Jonathan, What a wonderful job you've done with this. Thank you for being the pioneer in what willl be an ongoing feature in this forum. Although your official duties in this interview will end with the first firework this evening, (literally, with a bang!), you remain a highly valued member here, so please chime in whenever a topic interests you. (What I didn't tell you before you agreed to do this, is that you have no way to delete your userid and password, so you've now become a permanent member. Welcome to the Hotel California. ) Thank you! Stay tuned for another interesting guest ... and happy Fourth of July everyone. Rocks.

Jonathan, where do you want to take 2941 from here? Do you have any aspirations for chef's tables, wine dinners, truffle menus, etc.?

Starting a thread about Raku would be perfectly appropriate, and your views would be welcomed by everyone here. There is no "official protocol" for starting a new thread, but certainly any major DC DelMarVa restaurant - especially one as notable as Raku - could merit its own discussion. From time-to-time, I scroll through old pages and merge multiple threads about the same restaurant. (I vaguely recall a thread about the WCP restaurant raters from awhile back, so I may in fact find that thread and merge it with this one, although I don't have time to do it now). Welcome, and please don't be shy! Rocks. P.S. In fact let's all welcome you now with a little tune in the great tradition of Barry Manilow. All together now! Her name was Lo-la She was a Shogun

It doesn't get any press, but Tesoro next to the Days Inn on upper Connecticut Avenue offered up a pretty decent hunk of lasagna with spinach, veal and ricotta. Plus how many restaurants have the owner taking your order behind the bar? I have a strange and rare medical disorder causing me to require a glass of red wine with lasagna. So after enjoying a Peroni, I ordered a bottle of inexpensive red from the cordial Ignazio Bonanni, who actually downsold me, urging me to order a glass of his house pour from Piedmont, assuring me it was a wonderful wine, and saving me about $17 in the process. No, the wine wasn't all that great, but the gesture was, and he even gave me a generous refill on the house. It was chef Drew Trautmann's night off, but Mendocino Grille and Wine Bar still served some first-rate softshells. Billed as crispy softshell crabs, with wild mushrooms, orecchiette pasta, garlic chives, greens and pan sauce, this dish grew more remarkable the further into it I went. Anything but crispy, this bowl was a joyous, liquidy, sloppy, juicy celebration of the succulence of the great molted blue crab, the crabs being floppy, and the "sauce" being a broth that grew thicker and more complex as the softshells were cut and slowly integrated their flavors into the rest of the dish. Not at all cheap at $26 for two small softshells, it was an unlikely entree, perhaps an accidental execution from the kitchen, but a fascinating interplay of dynamic textures and temperatures that I'll remember long after this season has come to a close. Cheers, Rocks.

I don't want to make a habit of posting every piece of restaurant news that comes along, but for those who might be interested in subscribing, Colorado Kitchen (www.mmmmbetter.com) has a highly entertaining mailing list. With their permission, I repost the latest distribution here. I'm also intrigued about the mention of the "DC Originals," and will pass along more information (probably in a separate thread) when I receive it. Cheers, Rocks.

No easy answer for that question. I would say that every business person has their own formula for their success. This is mine. Forget your formula for success - I'm asking how it's humanly possible for you to stay awake! But here's another question: inside your restaurant is a copy of one of Rodin's Burghers of Calais (the despondent man on the right, holding the key). Where did you get such a thing? Also, what are those giant hanging pieces that I can only describe as being apricot yo-yos? Congratulations on your RAMMY award, by the way. In case people here don't remember, Jonathan just won the Rising Culinary Star Of The Year award, following in the footsteps of our own John Wabeck who won it the year before.

Since this is the first time we've tried this format, I hope to leave this thread open for about three days, during which Jonathan Krinn, Executive Chef at the glorious 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, will be fielding our questions. This thread, and this concept in general, is a work-in-progress, so please understand that I'll need to monitor it and tweak it more than I usually might. It will be a wonderfully entertaining and informative thing to have industry insiders posting here, and I cannot think of a better person to begin with than Jonathan Krinn. Everyone feel free to chime in, asking Jonathan about everything you always wanted to know about 2941 but were afraid to ask. If you submit questions now, Jonathan will see them soon enough and reply at his leisure. Chef, welcome to the DC DelMarVa forum, and thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts with us. A bio on Jonathan on 2941's website. There's a fine miniature Q&A session with Chef Krinn in the June, 2004 Washingtonian. Simply scroll down to view. There was a wildly successful eGullet event at 2941 that you can read about here. But Jonathan, let me begin by asking you something I've always wondered. You've been at the restaurant every single time I've been there, most recently last weekend when you came out, frazzled, looking like you had been in a food fight with someone who didn't like you. You have a successful physician as a wife and a young child, and you must surely be in a constant state of addled exhaustion. How can you possibly pull this all off? Cheers! Rocks.

I had lunch at Pho Tay Ho a few weeks ago (on the recommendation of people here) and loved it. Perhaps even more significantly, I saw an application for a beverage license pasted on their window which seems highly unusual for a Pho house.

The denizens of this forum will be pleased to hear that as of this morning, I'm never drinking again and have decided to become a vegetarian. Ray's the Cholesterol

I heard from Ann today. Strawberry shortcake, mmmm.... In her own words: "I thought I'd let you know that the bakery will stay open Thurs. and Friday Evenings until 7:00 p.m. offering lemon peppermint "lollipops" from the old days. People from Baltimore will remember enjoying them at the Flower Mart in the springtime. Of course, we'll offer our other goods, as well, except for the doughnuts. (we can't produce them at that time of day, the kitchen is too busy) Also, calling ahead can get a freshly baked biscuit perfect for strawberry shortcake. And if it's on the menu, you should try the blueberry sour cream cup. Plus I'm getting some beautiful and delicious fruit right now."

Welcome to the forum, Sbasil. I believe your spirited posting will be well-received by all participants here. Just last night, I received a private correspondence from an industry VIP, lambasting me for certain things I wrote. I urged him to air his viewpoint in this forum, because it's important for restaurant professionals (such as you) to feel welcome to come here and discuss their work, which you did very well with this posting. Cheers, Rocks.

This thread should be subtitled "Cashion in in Silver Spring."

I went to Sweetwater Tavern last Tuesday night at 6:30 PM, and there was a 40-minute wait. They offered to call Artie's for me, and there was a 40-minute wait there too. Their call-ahead policy has worked well for me in the past, but I had no idea there would be so many hundreds of people swarming at this particular time, certainly not at Sweetwater Tavern. Of all the large restaurants in Washington, I wonder if this company, Great American Restaurants, might be the king of moneymakers.

Think it's inconsistent now? Don't worry: restaurants numbers five and six are opening up this year. That'll fix things right up. Can anyone Carrabba-rate the projected opening dates for Jaleo and Oyamel in Crystal City? Jaleo is going the way of Austin Grill. You heard it here first.

Why should the etiquette remain the same when someone price gouges? If a car dealer is markin' it up by $5000 over sticker, do you honor their protocol, and "just go to another dealer?" How many people remember Le Lion d'Or? It wasn't that long ago, and they were one of very few places I've ever seen that correctly priced their food vis-a-vis their wines: they charged an arm-and-a-leg for their food, but had an amazing, fairly priced wine list. People who asked to buy their wines to take home were politely told no, because the wines at these prices were meant to be enjoyed with the food, and not supposed to be some sort of commodity that you could "steal" and take home with you. Why should I pay triple retail for a wine that I can open up and enjoy simply by walking down a flight of stairs in my own home? For "the privilege" of having it in this particular restaurant with this particular cuisine? I call bullshit. Charge double for the food, charge half for the wine, and stop making criminal profit on something that can be purchased at the liquor store down the road. If I do one thing in this world, it's going to be for fine dining establishments to change their profit structure away from liquor, and towards the only two things thing that distinguish them from happy hour at Calvert-Woodley and MacArthur Liquors: their service and their food. Yeah, I know: selection, inventory, pairing, pouring, glassware, blah blah blah. In precious few establishments, that's true, but in 95% of all restaurants, it isn't. I'm right, everyone else is wrong, and that's the way it should be. Rocks.

Unfortunately, it does. They're still peddling that dried-out buffalo burger, too. At least you can walk across the street to Cecile's Wine Cellar for some decent vino (or pay extortionary prices for a Jambon Beurre next door at Marvelous Market). Cheers, Rocks.

Here's a great Willard story (does anyone remember the movie Willard, or at least the sequel Ben?) A few years back, a friend of mine and I descended onto one of the rooms in the Willard, where a third friend was staying. (The room was amazingly Holiday-Inn-like, but that's another story.) After multiple bottles of vino, we called down for room service, and we each ordered a ground-steak sandwich and fries. The food arrived, and everything was inedible: the hamburgers were dry, well-done, and tasted like they were made by Cole-Haan, and the fries were frozen and gross. The bill for these three plates of food, including room service charge and tip, was something insane like $100 (honestly, I remember it being some crazy amount like that.). We ate what we could, and were all considering slitting our wrists when pondering the tab for what we just ate, and then my friend decided to call down to room service and tell them just how awful it was. He put on this hilariously engaged persona, like he was genuinely disappointed, and told them in detail about the meal, ending the phone call by saying, "and this just didn't meet the high standards we've come to expect from The Willard," even though none of us had ever been there before. They comped it!

Tying this all together, about five years ago Daisuke Utagawa (owner of Sushi-Ko) came into the restaurant to have dinner with about six of us. We all brought wines to drink, and while Daisuke was looking them over before the meal, he looked at mine (a 1994 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche if anyone cares), and said, "ah yes, I have this on my list." I began frantically looking for the trap-door-activation button so I could drop through the floor, but Daisuke honestly didn't care as I had no way of knowing. I began apologizing, he said it was no big deal, and that was the end of that. An almost paradoxical rule of etiquette: it's a bad thing to bring a wine on the list, but unless you've seen the list, you don't know what not to bring. I figure lugging a brown sack-o'-wine into a ritzy restaurant is gauche to begin with, so if you accidentally insult the proprietor by breaking this unwritten rule, you've only carried the act of utter disgrace and self-debasement one small step further. In bad taste as always, Rocks. P.S. Question for Mr. Slipp: the 1982 La Mission Haut-Brion at The Caucus Room last night was over $800 a bottle, and seemingly every single wine on the list was triple retail. Not triple wholesale, but triple retail. Had one of us brought that 82 La Mission in, not knowing that it was on the list, would it still qualify as being rude, arrogant and cheap? What if someone knew it was on the list but brought it anyway (and feigned ignorance)? Mr. Slater? Mr. Wabeck? Do you have any opinions on this? And after all these hundreds of meals, after knowing dozens of people in the industry, I still don't know what I'm "supposed" to tip for wine. I'm certain there is a conspiracy amongst restauranteurs to keep this as vague and nebulous as possible in order to maximize cash flow and "walking-around money." I hope that when you guys get reincarnated, it's in a roach-infested loft sitting atop a McDonald's.

Last night at The Caucus Room, our table had some of the best wine service I've seen in Washington. Everything about the way we were treated was just about perfect: for starters, there was our wonderful server Rachael, who was as cordial and friendly as she was professional and organized. We had multiple bottles, sometimes several going at once, and she showed a remarkable talent in pouring everything at the right time and keeping all the glasses in order. The stemware they use is first rate, the wines were decanted correctly (the head sommelier even came over and gently decanted an older Hermitage through a candle), and our entire party left thinking that the $15 corkage fee per bottle ($90 for a total of six bottles) was well-deserved, so much so that extra cash was left for our server on top of a 20% tip. Kudos to Rachael and The Caucus Room for a wonderful dining experience. Cheers, Rocks.

It will continue to be a supportive environment for dissenting opinions as long as I have anything to say about it. Continue posting your thoughts, Suzie. You have more supporters here than you might think. Read back to my first experience at the Minibar. Did it look like I loved it? Well, yes, I did love the experience. But have I been back since then? No. The Minibar is an amusement park. How many times a year do you need to go? Have you noticed we're talking about "experiences" rather than great meals? This is Walt Disney more than it is Albert Einstein. Both men were brilliant at what they did, by the way, but make no mistake who matters more. Stick around, Rocks.

I went to the bar at Restaurant Eve this evening for the fourth time, and I have to say that nobody, anywhere in Washington, makes better mixed drinks than Todd Thrasher and Restaurant Eve. I've now had just about every drink on their menu, and top-to-bottom, they're all well-conceived and brilliantly executed. Even the ones I don't love, I still respect. Example: earlier, I reported that I didn't like the pickled martini, and this evening I had a revised version that I still find to be absolutely undrinkable, but I've been assured by others that it's a great drink, and Todd told me this evening that it's about a 65%-to35% love-to-hate ratio, with not much in the middle. It's an amazingly detailed drink, and not at all to my taste, but Todd looked at me defiantly this evening, and said, quite proudly, "this is not coming off the menu." Bully for him, I say. Todd Thrasher is a baller. The Bloody Mary, the Purple Basil Colada ... ooh.... What a wonderful, welcoming place to be, the bar at Restaurant Eve.

I'd hate for this wonderful thread to go two years without an update, so can anyone tell us how Polonez is doing? Malawry, have you been back?

Last I heard, October, but I'm quickly learning to take opening dates with a grain of salt.