JRage

I may be responding too late, but I'm not sure how different their lunch menu is from the dinner menu. I love the hudson valley fois gras and the whole fish is excellent. Also, those beignets are awesome, and the sorbets, and the chocolate mouse with a caramel center.... Sorry, I've got a serious sweet tooth today.

Oooh.. WoodlyGrrl... that's a great suggestion. I need to go back to that place. Lebanese Taverna is really good food. And they have plenty of large tables. Good thought.

For a special family dinner... I personally like the food and the atmosphere of these restaurants; Ten Pehn has nice round tables perfect for a party of eight, (Asian Fusion) DC Coast, open hip feel, (New American) Olives has a cool square table for a medium group downstairs (even though its a chain...) [My wife loves it there.], (I'm not even sure how to categorize this one...) Now that I think of it, Levantes could work, nice group platters of Mediterranean snacks. (slightly lower price point.) Bistrot du Coin could be fun if you were in the mood for it and that is priced very reasonably. Obviously, I'd recommend my place...but that's frowned upon...

Speaking of hotel brunches, Seasons at the Four Seasons does an amazing brunch. It is really expensive, but nice for a special occasion. ($50) per person or so...

Too tired to check out tjaehnigen's link... but here are my favorites... For ethnic, my favorite place of all in Baltimore is Tio Pepes (Spain) and it is authentic and wonderful. Not a trendy tapas place, not that I don't love those too. It is old school dark, a little romantic. Very Spanish... For all around food and ambiance, I really like Spike & Charlies... they also have, Joy America, and Atlantic... both great as well. For Italian, I used to love Sabatino's, Vaccaros for incredible Canolli. Those are my favorites.

Ok.. I guess I'm a little more out of touch than I thought... A little more on the casual side is Kuba-Kuba which offers awesome Cuban food. Don't know why I didn't think of this in the first place. Also, a good Italian Joint is Mamma Zu's. It's a lot like our Pasta-Mia in that it has great pasta... and long waits. And both of these restaurants are listed...

Yikes, I think you are right...Directory listing isn't there and I found there number online and it was disconnected... my mistake. Now, a moment of silence... Thanks Steve, good catch.

It's been a few years, but If they are still there, one restaurant that I thought was very good was 'The Frog and the Redneck." Two owners/chefs, obviously one from the south and the other from France... I had a wonderful meal there but it was about 2 or so years ago. Not sure if they are still around, should be though... That was in shockoe bottom. Have a fun trip.

Tjaehnigen, They made that roasted tomato soup earlier this summer and it was pretty amazing... stop by anytime, I think you'll be happy. (although it is a little busy this restaurant week...) And thanks for the welcome BilRus, makes a novice online guy feel welcome...

To answer tjaehnigen's post, the current chef at Mendocino is Drew Trautman. We didn't change chef's when we changed ownership, but it may seem like we did. What changed was that we gave him more freedom to change the menu. We are encouraging him to keep the menu fresh and seasonal and allowing him to use more expensive, organic ingredients (whenever possible.) He is doing a great job of it and we are proud of the work he is doing. (but, I do have a biased opinion.) I am part of the new ownership of Mendocino. OK, enough self-promotion...but Tjaehnigen did ask...