Joe H

I have not been to Django but I suspect that those who are praising it are referring you to a restaurant where the experience is not typically a celebratory experience. Rather, an excellent, creative meal at a more than fair price. For myself, for a birthday, this is not where I would go. Friday or Saturday night yes but not for a special occasion. Especially since I really enjoy wine and part of the pleasure of a restaurant for me is the presentation of the sommelier, properly decanting the bottle and pouring into better stemware. All the more appropriate if it is Vinum Extreme and the decanter is a Reidel Duck. For this I would go to Fountain, Le Bec Fin or Philly's best Italian restaurant, Vetri. I believe all three represent the type of experience that you would find in Daniel or Per Se. The Striped Bass was also good several years ago but I believe the first three are a step or two above.

Bitone is outstanding with an exhuberant chef owner; worthy of its Michelin star. I've been to Battebecco five or six times over the past ten years and believe that it has "lost something," no longer-for me-worthy of its star.

Thank you very much for posting on here. I travel to Bologna two or three times a year on business and will try your restaurant.

Fabio Trabocchi, chef at Maestro in the Washington, D. C. suburbs and nominated for the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year award, visited Le Calandre and Uliassi several months ago. He noted that it has one star but could just as easily have two.

Extremely expressive and well written, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. With a dinner coming up there in several weeks your post was also quite timely. I am not certain how much buzz Le Paradou is receiving in D. C. There are many restaurants on both here and Chowhound that are rarely if ever discussed yet are enormously popular. I also suspect that Sietsema not having reviewed it yet is a factor working against it. If his is a rave then it should take off. Less than that I suspect there is far too much competition for it to succeed at its price point. Still, Citronelle, Maestro and Laboratorio are booked up over a month in advance for weekends-there is a market there. I also expect the new restaurant opening in August at the Mandarin Oriental is going to make a serious play for the title of D. C.'s best. Again more competition at this price point. One factor that works against Yannick is his "transiency." He has been in a number of restaurants over the past seven or eight years and I suspect part of his reputation may have eroded a bit from what it was when he closed Le Pavilion. But, at his best, he is superb; probably worthy of a couple of Michelin stars if he were in France. I know that at Le Relais the owner tried to work a deal with him for a piece of ownership in the hope that it would cause him to stay. Overall, though, we benefit from his newest effort. In combination with all of the restaurants mentioned above and the upcoming fusion effort from several Inn alumni D. C. is moving up quickly on the national level.

SBC's "cramped nondescript dining room" was fine when they were charging $12 to 15 for their entrees. At $20 it seemed even more cramped and less worthwhile. Frankly, this is not a restaurant that for me that ever lived up to its hype. It WILL have a lot of competition in D. C. Even for Herndon there were many alternatives. As an "apathetic and unappreciative local" I would argue that if SBC had not raised their prices after Sietsema's review and had continued to deliver the kind of good food for fair value that led him to it in the first place, well, maybe they wouldn't be leaving. There are similar restaurants "out here" that have done well for the past several years at the same or lower price point serving what I believe to be better overall food. These range from the independently owned Blue Iguana and Cafe Europa to the remarkably good chains such as Sweetwater. Cafe Europa is cramped and non descript. It is also better than SBC. This is also not the side of an argument that I want to be on since I'm sick of all the chains which one after another continue to open in Western Fairfax County. There is a very definite need for more chef owned restaurants here. We're we disagree is how good SBC was after they raised many of their prices.

Beans, you're in Clveveland and we're arguing about a Carrabba's on the D. C. board that you've never been to?

I'm not certain what Four and Twenty Blackbirds and the Flint Hill Public House have to do with this thread although I much prefer Four and Twenty. I do agree that the SBC Cafe will have a great deal of competition on P Street. In Herndon it stood out, at least before they stated running $20 dinner specials in their cramped, non descript dining room. On P street they're going to have to offer quite a bit more.

Reservation? Carrabba's doesn't take reservations. If they did they would not have the turnover they do and would have to raise their prices. Again, if you go back try what I have suggested above. Also, weeknights there should not be much of a wait. On Friday and Saturday call 30 minutes before leaving home to have your name put on a list. Bonefish does this also.

I totally agree with you about the "young restaurant chefs." I have the guide and have been to, maybe, 7 or 8 of the restaurants in it. Everyone has been excellent with several real values for what they served.

Beans, I don't know who you are but you're not going to tell me to go elsewhere when you are so clearly over reacting. Of course you could have had a bad meal, of course it could have been sloppy service. But it is a quantum leap to infer that all Carrabba's, all of their food and all of their service is similar to your one negative experience. THAT is what I am criticizing. I had a similarly bad experience in Centreville (minus the olive oil). As noted I also have had very good experiences many times over. I do think that there is a lot of overreaction and arrogance in several of these posts from people who want to trash chain restaurants in general. In general I don't really care for chains and also feel that they are slowly eliminating individual restaurants. Still, some of them are fairly good for what they are. Carrabba's is one of these. It does NOT warrant some of the across the board negative criticism that many in this thread want to level on it. For the reason that you bristle when I criticize you, I bristle when so many others thoughtlessly sweep away a restaurant that does a good overall job. If I hadn't entered this thread 400 or 500 people, having never been, would probably never go. While one bad experience may keep you away it shouldn't keep others from trying it. Again, for $60 for two entrees, two appetizers, two glasses of wine with tax and tip this is a good value. Anyway, you may have whatever words you now feel the need to express.

I stand by my comments: for $60 for diner for two with wine, Carrabba's is worthwhile. For some dishes it is quite good. As for comparing to a grocery store salad bar this is the hyperbole that I mentioned as an exaggeration. Let me ask you this: where in the D. C. area, with $60 to spend for two (app. for each, entree for each, two glasses of wine, tax and tip) where would you go for Italian? I really would like to know what you consider good in this price range? For mussels and pollo Santa Maria, for the fiorentina you're going to have an awfully hard time beating Carrabba's. You're also going to have a VERY difficult time convincing me otherwise. Again, I am talking ONLY about the Carrabba's in Reston.

There's a lot of over reaction and negative hyperbole on here that is unwarranted, I think, in many instances. I've been to the original Carrabba's in Houston BEFORE Outback bought it. I honestly believe it was better than any Carrabba's I have been in since. Still, like Bonefish Grill which I mentioned above, overall Outback has done a good, mostly consistent job with the 15 or 20 Carrabba's I've stopped in around the country. (I've travelled over a 100 days a year on business for the past 25 or so years.) As I mentioned above there are some good dishes. But there are other dishes that sometimes can be killed with lemon butter and olive oil. Fish can also be overcooked. Both of these issues are the results of individual attention in he restaurant. Still, there are a number that are genuinely good for the kind of food it is. I have also eaten at probably more Outback Steak Houses than anyone on any of these boards. Same meal every time: grilled fish of the day (usually fresh Mahi), double order of steamed veggies, salad with tomato viniagrette minus the croutons and cheese and two glasses of Greg Norman cab. Also, a spoonful or so of Remoulade sauce. Why? Because for me, for ten years, this has been a diet meal of sorts 30 or 40 times a year in 30 or 40 different Outbacks around the country. (I honestly think I've been in as many as 100 or more.) Some Outbacks are better than others. But overall, for a chain, the consistency is very good. Carrabba's is similar as is Bonefish which I consider the star of the group. (I do not care for Roy's.) While a lot of restaurants draw lengthy lines with mediocre food or huge portions of what really is "glop" the Outback group, overall, is very good. Certainly better than many of the people in this thread give it credit for. I must tell you that that Pappadeaux in Schaumberg has little in common with Houston. Pappas Bros. have an excellent product whether steak, Tex Mex, Cajun or hamburgers but they, too, have consistency problems. On another board I've also talked about Bahama Breeze which in their Orlando locations are very, very good (especilly Ahi tuna apps & entrees). In Chicago and Oklahoma City two weeks ago it didn't taste like the same chain. Point being that Outback does a very good overall job even when compared to several of the industry's most successful.

Their mussels are good and so is a signature dish, Pollo Santa Maria. Remarkably, their filet fiorentina actually has pretty good flavor. Salads are disappointing, pasta not worth mentioning and pizza that despite the wood burning oven is only a step above, say, Pizza Hut. Several specials ARE legitimately good-NOT great, but good. Frankly, for $50 for two with wine and tip Carrabba's is worthwhile and a once every two or three month stop for me. Bonefish Grill is also another Outback owned chain.

Sorry, but Dolce Vita at its absolute best couldn't compare to Carraba's. We have been sorely disappointed in two recent visits there. Again, NOT the Carraba's in Centreville which, on the basis of three meals was really quite bad if not actually terrible, but the Carraba's in Reston or elsewhere. These are independently owned and managed restaurants. In Reston the owner is on the property virtually every hour that it is open. It is FAR SUPERIOR to the Carraba's and its absentee owner in Centreville. Frankly, it would be my hope that someone at Outback corporate would read this and do something about the lack of quality control and virtual prostitution of the franchise name in Centreville, VA. It is THAT bad.

Remarkable thread that started with an enigmatic non commital post. I've eaten at the original in Houston on Westheimer which was a local legend before Outback bought them out. Still, despite all of the negative stuff on this thread there are several outstanding dishes by anyone's standards: mussels and pollo Santa Maria among them. The latter is made with sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, lemon butter and olive oil. It is over the top, fattening and legitimately good by any food snob's definition. Carabba's also vary from one location to another with Centreville being less than mediocre based on three worthless visits and Reston exemplery, with serious calories invested on a half dozen visits ove rthe past two years. There is absolutely no comparison between this and either Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill, the two obvious competitors. For those who seem to dissent there are reasons that lines are one and one half to two hours long after two + years of being open. This is not Maestro or the Lab; it is very good cheap Southern Italian done better than any other chain in America.

Did you also go to the one star, Uliassi in the same town? Gambero Rosso gives it a food rating the equal of the two star Madonnina, 53, which is among the five highest in all of Italy.

The prix fixe was $125; I am convinced it should have been $225. Plus wine, tax and tip. It was an extraordinary meal. If Fabio will do it again I'm going to organize a dinner in the spring that is similar but I suspect the prix fixe will be much higher. I still believe-since I now have over 100 e-mails that I will have little difficulty filling the restaurant. Not with 94 people which it holds but with about 50 to 60 which is a much better and more intimate number for this kind of dinner. I am also actually thinking of TWO nights at Laboratorio in early November since I have the same number of e-mails for that. and the room will be limited to 30 people. Roberto has already said that he wants to do it again. I should also mention that I know many people who are eagerly looking forward to what opens in the Mandarin Oriental in mid to late August.

http://share-dell.shutterfly.com/action/sh...szbM2r5I&idx=22 This is a photograph of the dish in question. This is from the dinner that I organized in February at Maestro. For many of the 58 of us there this was one of the two or three best dishes (of 14 total) served. I personally thought it was a "great dish" meaning one of the best that I have had anywhere. My wife, like Bilrus, did not care for it.

The best Indian/Fusian/Interpretative that I have ever had is at the one star Zaika in London. Four dinners, each one superb. I have not found anything even remotely similar in America, let alone elsewhere in London.

Da Domenico is good as is Bonaroti in Vienna, only two or three miles away from the major crossroads in Tyson's. Maestro IS the best restaurant in the Washington area and booked up for at least six weeks on Friday and Saturday night. Still, it is seriously worth consideration for a future trip. I really do like Shamshiry. No, it is not upscale and it is Persian, but it is the best Persian in the eight million + D. C./Baltimore area. Superb rice, probably unlike anything you have ever had before. After dinner go out 123 to Vienna and turn right at the light where Magruder's is at the corner on the left. One block and on your right you will see Neilsen's Frozen Custard. D. C.'s best, only a notch below Milwaukee's world's best, Kopp's. Shamshiry and Neilsen's will solve many of the world's problems. Clyde's,by the way, is a predictable, successful local chain in league with McCormick and Schmick's, Legal, Phillips, all of which are at Tyson's. They are all good, none exceptional, nothing you couldn't find in a dozen or more other cities.

There are many inns with restaurants. $400 is not quite as large of a figure as you might think when you factor in $200 or so for the room and assuming you're going to drink some wine. Auberge Provencial, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Palladio at Barboursville Vineyards are three restaurants that come to mind along with, say, the Clifton Inn west of Charlottesville. For all four you may want to consider a separate Inn/hotel for the evening, perhaps in Charlottesville. In Maryland the Inn at Easton for dinner.

L'Auberge Chez Francois is more about a transporting experience to another time/country/gentility than it is about cutting edge food to die for. Still, the souffles are excellent, the pastry encrusted salmon is delicious and they try their best to make everyone feel important. It is also an older, dressier crowd (similar to 1789 and the Prime Rib) that has ranked this D. C.'s most popular almost every year for at least the last 25. Friday and Saturday nights are VERY difficult reservations, probably to the day a month in advance when they start accepting them.

You may also find that you have to go to more than one ATM to be able to withdraw money. Some bank systems are inconsistent.

Steve, I am one of the ones who is guilty of "interrupting her." About a year ago in the summer, on a Sunday afternoon about two o'clock, my wife and I drove down her gravel driveway. We saw her in front of a building and asked her, in a friendly way, if she was sold out of cheese? Her answer floored us, "I'm closed on Sunday." We asked, politely, if there might be a possibility that she would have a bit that we could buy since we had heard so much about her goat cheese and she said no and walked away. Since then, I've returned when she was open several times and bought her goat cheese. It's fantastic, perhaps the best I've ever had. On the return trips I found her to be friendly. But the first trip was another matter. That day there was NO SIGN saying she was closed on a Sunday afternoon.. There may have been one on a door somewhere but we never got that far. I would suggest that if she had put a sign up, displayed prominently, that she was closed this problem might not have happened. As for selling from her house I suppose she only wanted to sell on days which were convenient for her. Still, a sign at the entrance to her long driveway would have helped.