DCMark

Very nice article. I am a friend of Dr. Hall. My college friend's girlfriend was the hostess there in the 1990s and we met Dr. Hall at the bar on evening. He has entertained us numerous times both at Marcel's at at the Cosmos club. Dr. Hall is a gentleman of the old school style, impeccably dressed, extremely polite and erudite. I am not sure why everyone finds this strange. If you eat home every night, you are eating food prepared by the same 'chef' (you or your spouse). Dr. Hall has simply chosen to have his evening meals prepared by one of the great chefs in this city. I can also assure you he could eat there every night and never have the same meal twice. He can order whatever he wants. I would suggest people not read too much into his personality from this one article. He is certainly not an eccentic.

Well I am no fan of the posts here that do nothing but praise a place. But I see few real constuctive negative posts about the place. edit: ops, this was posted at the same instance as Joe H's which is legitimate and well-written so there is one. I do not loathe it. But I do feel people do. I am not one of those. The point I was trying to make was after all of these posts, are there any other positives or negatives that really need airing? Probably not. ←

Who loathes it? Why not stand up and state your reasons? No shame in that. Its the petty crap that is, well, petty.

I think all these comments are a testatment to this restaurant. Clearly it serves fine food, good well priced wine in an atmosphere that is nicely more welcoming than most steakhouses. So, people need to complain about something, like the trivial table policy, lack of reservations and selective delivery of hot chocolate!

Had our first experience at Corduroy on Saturday and I will just add that we had a great meal at the bar. Spring rolls, goat cheese, oysters, pork belly, fries and a bottle of Cornas. Also sampled the parsnip soup and bisque. All delicious. Also, Corduroy is civilized enough to allow cigar smoking at the bar. Most certainly we will be back. Thanks to Fero and David too.

That is certainly a good system. Its pretty easy to understand. Of course with guidebooks like that you are getting different reviewers for each restaurant. At least with Tom you have some history to go on. The Michelin system is more granulated than it appears. You have the stars but under that its a combination of 5 forks, black or red, plus some other symbols (quiet, etc).

Sorry its been 9+ months and I was there on business. Probably 3 glasses of Bandol at $10-$12 each. App at $8-$10, steak was $20, dessert $7. Calvados comped. Not bad for NYC (I am from DC). Truly French, with French chef, french manager.

I had a fine meal at Bandol, 181 E. 78th St. Not too expensive at all.

I have been reading some old posts. This one is a gem for learing about Rhone wines: Rhone Specifically in this post, Ron Johnson says: Can anyone explain this to me? Why does this happen. How does one know if a certain wine is in this particular stage (besides the obvious date). This was prompted by a wonderful Cornas I had over the weekend. 1997 Dumien-Serrette Cornas Vielles Vignes.

Joe, no one has criticized you for talking about the restaurants you love. Its the bombastic statements (best hambuger in the US, have you eaten them all?) that get you in trouble!

I briefly watched this last night. I am not a big fan of the Food Network and had never seen Iron Chef. It sort of struck me as sad that we are rating chefs by what they can do in 1 hour for a cheesy panel of CNN anchors.

Which may be subsidized by Ritz Carlton ala Lespinasse.

I was referring to Tysons Corner. Route 7/123. I am not sure how you can argue with that statement. Its NOT urban. Sure it will. with "the city" being the preferred location, and the suburbs reduced to "gly buildings, ugly roads, no sidewalks, no public transportation, and cookie cutter McMansions." None of which describe the area that I live in. ←

Hm, I guess I am old fashioned and oblivious.

So now bloggers are considered journalists? I knew they were opinion-makers (look at their presence at theDem and Rep conventions). But in this case its just re-reporting news. I just don't see why.

Bus, this is a very good point. One thing to quibble, those praising or criticizing those restaurants actually visited that restaurant and experienced their particular meal and whatever happened to generate the praise or criticism. What is the point of simply pointing out a health code violation already publicly available when you were not there to experience it? Is a blog just a means to see yourself in print by repeating existing information? Anyone who ever came close to working in a restuarnat knows that there are health code violations and there are healthcode violations I just don't see the need or point in highlighting Courdouroy's violantion without finding out the details first. It only serves to hurt the livelyhood of the owner and his staff, for a relatively minor violation. Sure, one can point it out, but why? Do we really think Courdouroy is cutting the salad on the same board as the raw chicken?

Joe I almost spit up my sandwich reading your post. Tyson's Corner is not urban one bit. Tysons is reflective of the worst of our SUBurban culture. Ugly buildings, ugly roads, no sidewalks, no public transportation, and cookie cutter McMansions. This is from someone who worked there for 5+ years and lived there a year. You make absolutely no argument that Tysons is urban with by observing that a chain such as Bonefish opens after 5PM. As Bux recently pointed out after the 'On a Whim' fiasco, EGullet may end up getting the members it derserves. Perhaps suburban Washington gets the restaurants it derserves. Last time I checked restaurants are a business and businesses want to turn a profit. If these areas were able to support the depth and quality of DC proper restaurants they would be there. Its not a coincidence that restaurants like Maggio's, Cheesecake Factory, etc. excel in the suburbs. These chains meet the desires, values and economics of the suburbs. One can point to the exceptional quality of various ethnic restaurants in Nova (which does kill DC proper in that department) but these restaurants were originally built around their own ethnic communities, ie, as Vietnamese refugees came to the area, their restaurants grew up around them. Edited to un-offend the offended. I stand by the rest of it though.

Don, welcome to the world of Blogs. Some of them are so utterly pointless.

Obviously a chain is not simply a restaurant with multiple locations. A chain is a restaurant with its menu, ingredients, prices, staffing levels, etc determined by a corporate office. Often the restaurant is required to purchase most ingredients from a specific (usually not local) source. A chain will have generally the same menu at all locations. How do you define a chain? More than one location? If so does that mean that Thomas Keller lost his drive for the "craft"? While his three restaurants have different names, they are owned by the same group. How about Ray's? Will that suddenly become nothing more than a place that is all about cash and cramming as many people through the door when the Silver Spring location opens? It is also silly to think that people who only have one location do not care about making cash, or for that matter that all of them care about the "craft". ←

Why? Violence begets violence and the history of Southerners is steeped in blood.

Joe, come on. Her tone was fine. You do have strong opinions which we all appreciate. But when you favor the CH web interface over this one, its like saying TGI Fridays is better than Maestro. Its just not true on any level. This system is so much more advanced, user-friendly and capable than CH. The fact that you favor CH indicates you just got used to it or you are terribly web-phobic. While I assume you had good intentions, your posting style can really come off as egotistical. You experiences are valued here but you are just one memeber of the DelMarVa community. With that in mind your massive missive on how to improve EG probably rubs many people the wrong way. Your long posts on why DC is a top restaurant town are interesting, this last post just seems to be writing for the sake of being the 'expert' on everything. I hope you do not take offense as I really do enjoy your thoughts on fine dining.

I just talked to Michael at Calvert Woodley. He has the following in stock: Valcombe Antoine Cantarelles Martin Fondreche Ventoux 966-4400, tell 'em Mark sent you

Twas me: No Jacket Required?: Why can't people show the courtesy to wear a jacket (and horrors, a tie!) when dining is a fine establishment like Citronelle? If you want casual, try the drive-thru. Tom Sietsema: I believe the chatter was looking for interesting food in a place that didn't require dressing up. That's all. Responding to: Something Creative: Tom, I'm looking for the creativity of a Citronelle but not the "jackets required" policy.. if you know what I mean. Price isn't the issue as is comfort. Tom Sietsema: The chef's tasting room at Eve in Alexandria is certainly worth investigating. As is Frank Ruta's Palena. Since when are jackets 'un'comfortable?

Recently we discussed where to find Kracher and Lynch wines in DC. Today's Post Food Section has a series on French Country Wines and 5 of the 9 selection are from one of those two. Now where to buy them...... The Real French Deal

Wow, the rank hypocrisy! Some people think pigs are beautiful and they are certainly more intelligent than horses. Do you eat pork? Has anyone asked if hoses want to be ridden and raced? This is another use (mis-use) of animals. In this country we generally allow and support the use of animals for food, sport and enjoyment. Yours happens to be shoving a bit in their mouth, putting a tiny man on them and whipping their ass. Mine might be eating them. Neither of us has any business tell the other what they should do. Horse meat is hard to find in the US, maybe impossible. Ironic as its the number one supplier of horse meat to Europe. I almost had an 'underground' source but he chickened out in the end. Everytime I am in France or Canada, I make sure to have some horse. It so wonderfully flavorful and great cooked rare.