tastedc

Sutton Place name changed to Balducci's - I think it's a Big Mistake...since when has New York set the food trends for DC? From NYC to DC - Sporting News Cafe on 13th & F, fails then the New Yuckers change it to Christopher Marks, fails - now it's a successful restaurant run by Chef Geoff...Nick and Steph's steakhouse at MCI, will be closing soon... the whole concept of lounge/restaurant from NYC has pretty well failed here (exception Chi Cha Lounge), I forget all the other failures...The Attitude of New York is, hey if it succeeds in NYC, they'll LUV IT in DC -- Boy, they don't know how conservative we are! Mark Ordan was a Big success with Fresh Fields, sold it to Whole Foods...completely designed his business for that purpose, to be sold...maybe he already has a buyer for Balducci's in mind???

Sorry, I've ignored replies-I don't currently have a location for cooking classes except for Bangkok Bistro where TasteDC.com (that's the 17,000 member organization - it's actually free membership, just go to the www.tastedc.com website, another plug!) is organizing a series of Asian "demonstration-only" cooking classes. I want to stay generally inside the Beltway for cooking classes, but if there is a beautiful weekend resort dying to have "foodies" come to their place, that's an option. Restaurants that are looking for new diners and have a chef with "personality" are preferred, but there are many chefs who will come to a restaurant and demonstrate, while the meal actually comes from the restaurant itself. Confused? Sorry, I'm looking for a location first, the instructor/class/themes comes later...

Don, Couldn't read every reply, but why not ask for a bucket of ice if a bottle of red is served too warm? I put the bottle on top of the ice, but of course in the ice itself would speed cooling. Seems to do the trick. Actually, I have more of a problem with white wine being served too cold, it takes forever for it to warm up, even in the glass, and don't get me started with servers continually putting the ice cold wine bottle BACK into the frozen slush, I just keep taking it out! Of course, if you're ordering by the glass...well, maybe they can chill the bottle before pouring? Of course, buying wine by the glass is tricky at best, truly a whole new forum...

Hail EGulleteers! I'm looking for restaurants in the DC Area that are interested in holding cooking classes for my organization. We have 17,000 wine and food lovers in the DC area, and if this is too commercial for this forum, my apologies in advance, but I just can't seem to find enough restaurants that will open up for cooking classes. Hands On or Demonstration-Only, either will work, we need a room for up to 35 people. Classes that have been huge hits in the past include "How to Make Pasta", "Cooking Basics 101", and anything having to do with French, Italian or Desserts. Ethnic cooking classes are also very popular. If you know a chef that is interested in teaching cooking classes, personality is everything - people love a great show a la Emeril or "Naked Chef". If you know a place/venue that really wants to have our cooking demos, that's appreciated too! I figure this forum would also increase Egulleters awareness of local cooking classes/venues in the area.

Just had dinner last night at Jimmie and Sharon Banks new place - Ginger Cove and my friend and I had an excellent meal! Things to note: it's really 2 restaurants in 1, we ate upstairs at the "casual" and "funky" Cove, but downstairs is the fancier Ginger Reef - visually, the downstairs is a stunner, real high ceilings, modern furniture and a really eye-catching layout. But Cove upstairs is way-cool too! On to the food: I had the Caribbean(?) Surf and Turf which was spicy grilled jerk shrimp with shredded pork and really good fried plaintains, and my friend had the Snapper Hellshire "whole frish crispy fried with spicy tomato vinaigrette, topped with choyote salad". Both were great, sort of Caribbean comfort food served in a really cool setting! I forgot the names of the drinks we had, but they use really fresh ingredients - and it's way cool to eat at the bar. What's really unique is that it is truly 2 separate restaurants: upstairs is more barsy/neighborhoody and downstairs is more fine dining/loungy. Jimmie told me the menus are different, BUT there are also 2 separate kitchens and 2 different chefs (I had this picture in my head of Sharon running up and down the stairs between the kitchens - not a pretty scene/dream!). BTW, Jimmie looked real good and I think he's going to try to make this one work for awhile. He's got a huge following, but there didn't appear to be any "foodies" in the restaurant, it was more "partiers" and "hipsters" - and this was on Monday night! Only fear - it's such a cool place in such a Hot area, I'm hoping the trendy/bar crowd doesn't overwhelm the foodies and scare them away...

FYI, Tom makes a living off the catering of the Hotel, the second floor Restaurant is his passion/loss leader. Tom is a true Foodie and seems to be very content with his back-of-the-house personna. Second floors and basements are generally the Kiss of Death in D.C., but there are some (rare) exceptions like Vidalia.

Thanks Mark - beats the Hell out of regular Sugar Syrup!

Kind of new to Egullet (been perusin!), but ate at Ceibas last night with my "Foodie Group" and we all thought the restaurant was really great! I tried the Hemingway Mojito with dark rum to start and it had a really caney/sweet flavor with no bite, but I only had 1 glass of wine afterwards and was feeling it - must be the Cachaca? We split: duck confit empanadas (all loved, I wanted a bit more meat in mine!), 4 ceviches - the yellowfin tuna had some kick, so I loved that one!, Black bean soup -well, it was too bland for all of is, the Only real disappointment in the meal, and no Biggie! Wine was the Santa Ema Carmenere Maipo Valley 2000 and was a bargain for $26 - very fruit forward red with a lovely peppery spice which wasn't too tannic to fight with the spices of our dishes and not too fruity to overwhelm the flavors..got lucky with that wine choice! Mains: Rib Eye with Chimichurri - excellent flavor, oily/garlicky sauce with a light kick, personally I like more heat, but the flavors were beautifl together, this is more like comfort food - especially with the 3 large onion rings and mushrooms, this was a keeper! Spiny Lobster with the crispy spinach, Cheryl had this and theire was an exotic flavor of Cumin or something like it that really woke up the dish - a beauty!, The Red Snapper was to die for - this was the only spicy/hot dish other than maybe the touch of spice on the tuna ceviche, and the presentation of the whole (large) snapper was exciting! All the entrees were really good and huge! Desserts: Split the Flan - love this stuff, again, comfort food with the syrupy caramel sauce, how can you go wrong? and the 3 assorted Sorbets: Coconut-Vanilla, Guava-Lime, and Salted Pineapple (stole the details from their website), they all tasted just like intense fruit ices! Overall, we all loved the experience, the server was very attentive and answered all our questions (split everything up really well too!), had a top-rate experience, would go back, and plan to try their lunch which is a different menu. It's good to see a real attempt at DC's restaurant owners actually pushing the Foodie Envelope, we have to support these ventures!

What about Pines of Italy? There used to be a bunch around including the 1 in Arlington on Wilson Blvd...haven't been to any of them in years, but they fit the type of restaurant I grew up with in Central Pa -lots of tomato sauce, linguini, ravioli, spaghetti, lasagna and big portions!