Nadya

Bis is open on Mondays and tends to be not so busy on that day. We also have a number of private rooms that can be a good choice for a party of that size as I am not certain we can accommodate 25 people in the dining room all at once. Call Annee Gillette, our event coordinator, at 202-661-2700.

Are you familiar with the kind of willpower that is required to, say, turn your back on the most perfect pair of shoes? For instance, darling knee-high boots in cognac leather with 4-inch heels that go fabulously with everything you own? Just because you should? Let me tell you....trying NOT to eat the goodies generously doled out from the kitchen on DR's farewell night does not compare. No reason seems good enough. So what if one has a dinner date at Komi later in the night! Surely a little piece of pizza won't hurt?? Surely a spoonful of soup won't interfere? I've done it. I've turned my back on the pizza, the soup and the spring rolls. And as proud of self as I was, I made a solemn promise to self: very soon, I will come to Corduroy and leave the rest of the night unplanned. And I shall have my vengeance. See ya soon.

← Wear lots of over priced black and look down your nose at people who dare to wear less expensive black, all the while drink the new hip drink whether you like it or not. ← Don't foget that the women have to be anorexic arm candy and the guys have to have more grease in their hair than in the transmission of their small penis compensating 6 figure sports cars. ← As a Rude Euro, I feel compelled to stand up to you dissers of black-wearin' arm candy. We have feelings, too, you know. (Feeling charitable, I will speak up for drivers of sports cars as well. Do you think the dealerships make them drop their pants before completing a purchase?)

Have been nine months ago and remember not being impressed. Nothing particularly objectionable but nothing notable, either. A serviceable choice, I suppose.

You people have no shame. I had just one pork shoulder sandwich, and feel the need to kick arse tonight at the gym followed by two hours on the ice, and just MAYBE that will make me a good girl again. Of course, I also had two cannollis. You wouldn't want me going without dessert, now would you?

daSto featured in "Shopping as an Appetizer" in WashPost today. Page H3. Quote: "About the store's name: Smith and Clark were slammed on www.egullet.com, a Web site and online chat for foodies, by people who think daSto is an insulting reference to black slang. But Smith said she and Clark were inspired by the unpronounceable Swedish names at Ikea. "It wasn't an ebonics thing at all," Smith said." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2005Apr13.html

This happens at least twice a night at Bis. An obviously out-of-town couple walks in. A look of relief washes over their faces. A quick scan of the room - yes, this is indeed an eating establishment. A cheery call of hello from the host stand. "Can we take a look at the menu?" "Certainly!" A perfunctory look at the menu turns into a look of surprise as the entree prices begin to register. A furtive exchange of looks that says...hmmm....noooooo....not 10.75 for a steak tartare...white tablecloths...what the hell is steak tartare anyway? what should we do now? "Do y'all know any, you know, casual places around here?" "Certainly!" - the hostess trills brightly. "There's a place called "The Irish Times" on the other side of this block. Make three left turns and you're there." Another look of relief at what is obviously a graceful way of out of an embarrassing situation as they shuffle out of the door. A manager walks by. "What was that?" "Another one for The Times." "Oh. Right, then." P.S.: Oh, Bis has a bar, too, and serves drinkies well into the night.

Galileo Grill...open tomorrow. Pork shoulder Cannolli

Elegant Burgers....thanks for starting off my morning with a blast of laughter. Or could that mean Rude Euro bourgeois dressed in their Sunday best strolling along the street with their fraus???

Some of Them Want to Fuse You Some of Them Want to be Fused by You

Old Ebbitt happy hour rules. Mind you that it applies to the happiest of all hours between midnight and 2 a.m. What fun! Get off the closing shift, get a few buddies and haul bottom in to kick back in style with oysters and chilled white. Where else can one be so sybaritic so late at night? And oh, the best part is that at that time, the wide-eyed visitors to DC are usually fast asleep in their Holiday Inns, dreaming, no doubt, of cherries and blossoms. No one but the true criminals around.

It's not that I didn't like the taste of bread pudding; my dismay was caused largely by how slophouse and pedestrian desserts were in presentation and plating compared to apps, entrees and ambience.

A good time has been had at 21P last Saturday. Because I really, really, really disliked BeDuCi, I was anxious to like 21P. Stepping in, I felt ready to trill like one of these deranged supersocial ladies, "I love what you've done with the place!" Decor is really quite enjoyable - blond wood across navy blue walls, glassed-in facade, orange daisies in turquoise glasses, very nice, nod of approval from Modern Living. Note that no delay in seating ensued with no reservation on a Saturday night. The bar gets a special vote - we only spent a few minutes there, but it seemed both inviting and strangely unpopulated. Wide barstools on which the bottom rests comfortably, same dark blue color scheme, and a counter facing the street. I can think of worse things to do on a weeknight than to toss back cocktails and watching Dupont go by. The food was...it reminded me of Princess Diaries or another movie where the plot revolves around a timid, unpopular and rather homely girl that through some twist of fate needs to Get Gorgeous, and soon. Twenty minutes later, after appointments with Antoine The Hairdressing Arteeste, posture tutors and unlimited accounts at Emporio Armani, she's a younger Elizabeth Hurley. Then, to stifle a fit of welling jealousy, you remind yourself that she always had good bones and pretty eyes to begin with. The food at 21P needs Antoine The Hairdressing Arteeste. Good bones and pretty eyes are there, they just need to be polished and presented. The ambition of the owners is clear when you take in the decor and some menu items. Now all they need is polish. My veal cheeks appetizer was gorgeous and prettily presented on a square plate (note to ambition.) My friend had a rather serviceable green salad with candied walnuts, so good I charmed and guilt-tripped him into feeding me most of them. The entrees were a step down. My cilantro-braised lamb shank was fork-tender and falling of the bone, but please. Does it need to be floating in the (tasty) sauce to the point of needing a swimguard? It takes a lot of sauce to sink a big ol lamb shank. Accompanying bean raviolis were yummy and with a bit of saucing on top could have warded off the dryness that distracted from how yummy they were. My friend's coffee-dusted steak (note to ambition) was okay and the sides of haricot vert and mashed potatoes (declined to taste) looked good. Desserts were a crash. The pastry department is either still putting its act together or is an afterthought of a busy kitchen. Flourless chocolate cake that looks like a strip of fudge. Strawberry bread pudding with heath bar crunchies in some manner of sauce. Both taste and look as if they came out of a glass case in a corner store. Provide a sugar rush, yes. Demonstrate ambition and finesse clearly present or attempted elsewhere? No. I think 21P is a great addition to the 'hood and I will continue to go - most certainly to the bar. My sincere wish is that they give the food a critical look to showcase its strengths a little better - which in most cases will require just a few tweaks. Antoine the Hairdressing Arteeste will be proud of this one when it emerges as a swan, and I sincerely hope it will.

Disagree totally. I love to diss the burbs as much as any other Dupontian, but my (irrational) love toward good food trumps my (even more irrational) snobbery toward unfashionable zip codes on any given day. Why should a restaurant in Reston have more legitimate claim to space in the Dining section than a restaurant in Baltimore? What would you have him do? Review places only in Northwest DC reachable by metro? That would be more way provincial than living in Reston.

I swear when I first read this in a glance I thought you said "greeted by a nekkid lady" ← You laugh...yet I recall a seven-year old from Houston who pointed his pudgy finger at the poster, and said, accusingly, "Don't you find this picture inappropriate?"

I imagine shrieking "Ask Me!!" while staring at the audience with dead-pan eyes a la resurrected fortune teller in Warlock II. Seriously, though, definitely upscale of Bistro Lepic. Menu recently revised. Commenting on food would be mucho inappropriate for me, but the place has been booming lately. Rather than telling you what the place is, I would tell you what it is not. Not an intimate, romantic dinner place. Dining room is large and lively, and there is only one reasonably private table for two. PM me if interested in better table numbers for future reservations. Not a small plate heaven. Menu offerings fall neatly into appetizers or entrees unless you want to graze at the bar. Not a stuffy, overly formal French place. Not a place to go if you don't fancy being greeted by a poster of a nekkid lady over the host stand. The bar scene is great and busy on weeknights but almost empty on weekends. Take note. Tasting menus: yes Cheese plate: yes Smoking at the bar: yes Eating at the bar: yes Best-looking front of the house staff in town: yes Late dining: yes (we seat until 10.30 Chefs kissyface: no

Now the real reason behind egullet's existence comes out. Write up your dining experiences in a way that others want to join you. = Arrange group events. = Get own pictures taken. = Post the most flattering ones in a popular thread. = Casually drop the "single" reference, ever so cleverly working the jacket size into the comment. = Get twelve PM's asking self out for drinkies. A cunningly circuitous but nevertheless effective route. eGullet: A dating club with an eating problem.

Mua ha ha, can't wait to tell Da Boss what his young'un has been up to

Stuffed lamb :wub: Exquisite dish, run to the cafe to get it while it lasts. Minestrone with fennel and sausage :wub:

Last night. Corduroy. Beef cheeks Pork belly Chocolate sabayon SO worth waiting for. Nothing more to add. Thank you, Tom and Rissa and James.

I cannot believe Komi hasn't been mentioned up to this point. I'm disappointed in y'all. Komi is located on the corner of 17th and P near Blockbuster and Sushi-Taro (neither of them recommended.) It's a little gem with incredible attention to detail and great food. I would recommend a reservation, particularly on a weekend night. If you want proper sushi, consider Sushi-Ko in upper Georgetown or Kaz near the World Bank on I and 19th St. Lovely, imaginative sushi and yummy small plates.

Hm....I always thought of tactile presence as something you can touch or grope. As in, "I was ready to fall over, but was stopped by a tactile presence of my friend standing next to my barstool."

I have to agree that Afterwords brunch is Not All That. The place is only good for late-night munchies when there's nowhere else to go and The Diner does not beckon. Also, when the sun is out, do not be tempted to sit by the glass windows facing it. It makes you feel like you're on a hot plate (while fully dressed.) Not Good.

About that Saturday lunch at Palena... Waves of sunlight streaming through the windows give the cafe room a cheerful sunny morning feel that has a way of making you feel downright wholesome even as you're straddling the bar stool discussing the night before (i.e. St. Patrick). Of all the weekend lunch joints in this town, last Saturday I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Jeff is as dreamy and obliging at lunchtime as he is in the evening. A mimosa-like concoction he engineered for us was a perfect start of the afternoon. Lobster bisque with mussels, shrimp, spinach flan and rice. Loved the texture and substance of the soup, love the fact that it didn't have this uninterrupted boring creaminess that's usually a turnoff for me (in bisques). Warm and homey. Buckwheat blini with poached egg and chanterelles. More warm homeyness, woodsy mushrooms, an egg that's just runny enough. The blini is not what I thought it would be, it's more like a buckwheat doughnut with no hole in it (rather than the crepe-like business.) But very satisfying regardless. Hot chocolate with toasted flakes of bitter cocoa (right?) and actual real doughnuts, a fitting end to a meal that fit like the most comfortable shoe. (Darling bright turquoise suede Diesel sneakers with red piping. If you must know.) The fact that not a single visit to Palena goes without running into one or more restaurant type is the greatest recommendation for the place. Food that delights most cooks, dreamy Jeff, and a warm welcome every time I come. The fact that I chose to come there twice in one week after a long stretch in a culinary wasteland (despite many, many choices) is an even greater recommendation :)

What IS the dealio with never-stopping let's-gang-up-on-Ray's business? Okay, one unhappy customer. But this is almost like a whole new Ban-Ray's (pun intended) Live Online forum.