dbortnick

You can come see us at Poste in the Hotel Monaco.

We here at Poste, in the hotel Monaco, regularly handle convention groups with menus and prices that seem to fit your requirements. You can contact our Private Dining coordinator, Sean, at 202-783-6060 ext 162, for more information. Hope this helps, enjoy your visit to DC.

For dinner we'll be opening up the entire menu to restaurant weekers, although a few dishes will have slight up charges. Lunch, however, will be slightly more limited. See ya'll soon.

There are no limitations here. Let your imaginations run free. I was thinking for one of mine... Chef, from southpark...so I could pick up some of his game. That man is one big pimp.

Board? Take a trip to the "Neighborhood of Make Believe".... The proposition: You can spend one week in a restaurant kitchen, hangin with the chef, learnin some new tricks, and gettin the inside scoop. The question: Where would you choose? Whom would you like most to hang with? and most importantly, Why? (For the sake of not excluding too many chefs and breaking their hearts, post your top three)

Whoa, I think you lost track of my intention here. I am looking for Italian. Ofcourse I am aware of the many chefs doing just that kind of ideal with other cuisines and interpretations. The first thing I ate when I got back last night was sushi....couldn't have been happier. Again, I was looking for Italian suggestions. Oh, and thanks to DCMark for being blunt and humerous, your reply was probably the most on point response I got.

Spezie does look (atleast menu-wise), similar to somewhere in Italy. I will have to check it out. As far as Palena, indeed the cooking there is wonderful, kudos Frank, but not quite that traditional Italian simplicity. A thought I just had was that DC's equivalent to Italian snack bar food would be the many half-smoke stands that line the mall. For the most part, they are cheap, simple, and delish. I think what I have stumbled across here is a double edged sword. On one hand I will return to the numerous cuisines I have missed, i.e. japanese and mexican, but on the other hand I will once again have trouble figuring out where to go for that nice, simple, fresh, and inexpensive meal. A somewhat anomaly in DC.

As I set to return to DC in a few days after an extended culinary adventure in Italy, I worry....will I find anywhere to eat in DC that closely resembles some of my favorite trattoria, osteria, pizzeria, pannineria, and ristorantes in Italy? The food, undoubtedly simple, fresh, and seasonal, is mostly hard to find in the states. There is a definate tendency in the states to put everything but the kitchen sink into a dish. But in Italy, long standing culinary traditions are evident as every food establishment serves the same combinations of 3 or 4 ingredients, and than it is left to the chef's hand to transform them into something magical. I would never expect to enjoy as much in DC something as simple as a plate of Gnocchi with tomato, olive oil, and mozzarella, or a ravioli filled with artichoke and brie cheese, tossed just with a little olive oil and parsley. Please folks, calm my nerves, and enlighten me on where I can pick up from where I left off when I return to DC.

Don't let your handicaps keep you from Makoto, its well worth the visit, and at $45 the chefs' menu is well worth the experience. By the way, you don't sit on the floor, you sit on some sort of wooden box that doubles as jacket storage....too cool. I would agree that for the best fish, makoto is the place, however, for a great sushi fiesta, I would look more to sushi taro, sushi ko, or kaz sushi. All those places are more upbeat, modern, and loose. Oh, and in the summer, rooftop at perry's is butter.

Shakey's!, now that brings back memories. We used to go to the one on rockville pike, which if I remember correctly might be a hooter's now? I remember their pizza being cut in triangles, I'm pretty sure Ledo's is the square slice you are thinking of...

I grew up in rockville and have fond childhood memories of saturday lunches at Bagel City (on Rockville Pike, somewhere between Montrose and Twinbrook), and picking up Theo's pizza (on Seven Locks Rd, b/w Montrose and Wooton Pkwy) for Wednesday nights. Ofcourse that was quite a long time ago so I don't even know if Theo's is still there. And please don't ostracize me for suggesting it, but I have always had good burgers and french dips at Houston's. There I said it, begrudgingly.

I think of Woodside as more deli than diner, but in the grand scheme of things, who cares? You can get anything a diner has at most delis, plus a whole lot of delicious jewish treats. a.k.a. matzoh ball soup, reuben sandwiches, latkes, whitefish salad, fried matzoh/matzoh brie, gefilte fish, chopped liver, salami and eggs, bagels 'n lox, blintzes, knishes, ooy don't get me started. Therefore, seeing as how we've incorporated delis into the diner deal, I'd like to add a couple personal favorites, Krupin's on Wisconsin Ave in CC, and Celebrity in Potomac, MD. Long live the deli!

One of my favorite things to do, is to buy a wine for under $10 and roll the dice on it. Its a crap shoot, win some lose some. Fortunately I sometimes find one I really enjoy and I make note of it to buy a bunch next time to have for friends and guests. The ones I don't enjoy get served to unwanted guests. I have a lot of luck with Argentinean wines, they are a great value, i.e. Bodega Norton Malbec. In general I end up with good cooking wine though.

Thanks for all the kind words 8Track. I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. Stay tuned for our winter menu changes, I'm getting really excited!

Why won't they just go away? Maybe its a sign....desperate times bring desperate measures.