Joe H

Thanks, Fred. I'll be back there next February for a trade show.

What do you consider good prices on lobster? It depends on if I'll make the trek over there or not...! ← As of a year ago there was only one retail market in Jessup. It had a fraction of what can be found on Maine Avenue and was more expensive overall.

"We set up an 8:30pm reservation per Jared's suggestion in case we wanted to linger for awhile. It was nice having that luxury, but we were out of there pretty early." This is from your original post. I found your use of the word "luxury" to describe being able to stay longer than 90 minutes quite interesting. Ray's is the first restaurant in the D. C. area to do this. I fear that it will not be the last. It is also possible that when one spends $150 or more like my wife and I did there is a level of expectations that is different from when one spends $40-50 per person total which is what many on this board seem to spend when they go there. Anyway, I was just responding to the person visiting who interpreted my analogy to a New Orleans restaurant and positive comments about several dishes as an endorsement. For me the restaurant I named, Pappas Bros., is a Houston version of the Capital Grille (which Houston also has an outpost of). I would rather spend $50 more and go there than Ray's. But that is me. As for Black Salt, I stand by my comments. I am also curious about comments about oversalting on here. I've now been to Black Salt seven or eight times and still, have not found a single dish to be oversalted. This includes organizing a dinner for 50 there with 15 courses. Having said this, on my next visit, I will probably find everything to be grossly oversalted!!!

Fantastic blog! A real pleasure to read. And Berkeley! I was accepted there....in '68..... (!) but didn't go for financial reasons-I lived on the East Coast and the rest is a story for wine. I have not been to da Vittorio-yet. But I will go. I also probably agree with your 18 for Calandre. I would actually have given it a 16 four years ago, topping out at 18.5 in December of '03 and a shade lower based on this past December. My best meals have been as much about opportunism and extraordinary circumstances as much as the restaurant itself. (A dinner at El Raco de Can Fabes on a night when a visiting two star chef sat next to us. We asked to be served what he was served. Almost five hours later and about 18 courses this was a meal I could not duplicate four nights later when I returned with friends.) Still, your recent Spanish trip really intrigues me-SanSebastian is a town/area that I MUST visit. My current obsession with Italy is the walled town of Soave and using this as a base for exploration. http://www.hotelroxyplaza.it/index.html is an interesting link for a four star hotel (E110/night for a jr suite in a totally restored building). Also, it's ground zero for the wine consortium with several interesting restaurants.

Wow, I hope I did the quote thingy right. Pappas Bros is great, we go to Brenners for steak here. Houston is the land of chains. Actually Brenners was not-too-long-ago bought by Tilman Feritta (Landrys/Joe Crab Shack owner and developer of neon, disney-like blight on a national scale) but he wisely left it alone, so even though it is now part of the Evil Empire and also located on a highway frontage road, we like it best for beef. I think Houston has endless capacity for steak restaurants, even places like Ruth's Chris are crowded. I'm finally going to hit Zatinaya and we're having lunch on Friday at Jaleo, since when I worked on the Hill that was my favorite to go there many years ago. We also have 2 Amys scheduled in since I also used to love Pizza Paradiso and my sister thinks I would love 2 Amys. Comparing RTS to somewhere in NOLA is a great endorsement, in my view. ←

http://www.chowhound.com/boards/intl5/messages/19460.html This is the report that I posted on another board two years ago, a week or so after it opened. It is interesting to read the various comments today and relate them to my impressions then.

crabs can be nasty....

Having eaten your way through San Sebastian, Calandre, etc. which two or three restaurants/areas do you prefer right now? One priority would be for a dinner that would be a true "wow" experience, a sensorial awakening if you will. Where would you go for this? A second (and different) priority would be for sumptuous indulgence and pampering. Where for this? Also, I once wrote about a 2,000 year old Roman era furnace about 50 km northwest of Genoa. Have you ever been there? It has a Michelin star but was just an extraordinary experience. Unfortunately it's so far out of the way that I will probably not return. Last, do you ever come to Washington? There is a restaurant here, Maestro, that I believe challenges Calandre. It's chef, Fabio Trabocchi, was twice nominated for the Rising Star Beard award (same age as Massimiliano) and now is nominated for the Mid Atlantic. My guess is that if he was in New York he would have won the Rising Star and be nominated for the national chef of the year this year. Fabio has been to Calandre; recommended Uliassi to me as a close second to it although I haven't been yet. If you're ever here I would enjoy meeting you and sharing this with you. I, too, wish I was ten years younger (I'm 58).

Am I wrong or aren't most of the clams that are used, say, in Ipswitch from Maryland's eastern shore? Nasty can be good....

Wonderful report-seriously jealous! Today would be a good day to be out, too!!! Harrison's is interesting-a lot of character and tradition. Great mayonnaisey cole slaw, too.

For what it's worth I was in Vienna two months ago for four days on business. My first stop was at Demel, the legendary bakery/chocolate shop/cafe which is one of the two who serve "authentic" Sacher tortes along with others. It was horribly, horribly disappointing! extremely crowded, expensive (not in relation to the dollar but by Euro standards) and just nowhere near as good as what I had expected. I had slices of two tortes there along with outstanding hot chocolate and two more torte slices that I took back to my hotel room as well as a Kilo of chocolate to bring back. On the return trip the Zurich airport has two outposts of Sprungli which is, arguably, the best Swiss chocolate. FAR superior to what I bought at Demel. One of my dinners was at Walter Bauer, considered one of the two or three best restaurants in the city. Pastry was excellent. But not any better than what can be found here. In fact I would argue that both Citronelle and Maestro have several pastries that I preferred to anything in Vienna. Viennese pastry is a great image. The real thing-at the source-left real disappointment. I should note that one store featured "American style" pizza. Perhaps for them this is like Viennese pastry for us. Of course the city may be the most beautiful of all in Europe!

Where do you go for steak in Houston? Pappas Bros? To me Ray's "feels" like a restaurant in NOLA by the way. Where else are you going?

"Like others here I think Fabio is simply fantastic, but I wasn't going to say he was robbed when Grant Achatz got the Beard award and not him--how would I know? I had never been to Trio nor eaten at Grant's table, like I had at Maestro. I wasn't in a postion to comment meaningfully--that Tom puts himself in the position to comment meaningfully by traveling and networking, and that others around the country listen is, again, all good for us." I have been to Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar in New York whose chef won the Beard Rising Star award last year over Fabio. I stand by my comments. No, I have not tasted anything from Grant Achatz but that was the first year of the two Fabio was nominated. Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar is very, very good. But has nothing, NOTHING in common with Maestro and very possibly, little if anything in common with Grant Achatz. Overall D. C. has a top rung that is superior to Philly, Baltimore, Richmond, Pittsburgh, etc. But ANY comparison to NY pales in consideration of national awards. (Boston, also pales to New York by the way.) Why hasn't Michel won a national Beard? Only O'Connell who was championed by the NY press as well as Phyllis Richman. I also, personally, am very curious why Vegas was essentially shut out this year. Half of the restaurant openings in the past few years seem to be from New Yorkers opening outposts there. A statement that only the original can be as good? If this is true then why bother with Ducasse in Manhattan-or Paris-and only consider Monte Carlo? Perhaps I am giving far too much credit to the hometown chauvinism of the New York based writers and restauranteurs at the expense of any challenge, certainly any challenge east of the San Francisco Bay. I do remember sitting at the bar in Danko and sharing 15 or 20 courses (!) over four hours and being told that the husband had just returned from D. C. and had raved to his wife that Citronelle was better than anything in the Bay area. They had also been to El Raco de Can Fabes the Michelin three star 30 miles west of Barcelona and agreed with me, it was superior to both Danko and Citronelle. Of course Citronelle, now, has several dishes that would serve El Raco well. Still, Fabio was robbed in his second year. Fleeced, mugged, ripped off.

Consider me the first. Il Desco isn't El Bulli, French Laundry, Charlie Trotter's, Zuberoa, or (in my book) Mulinazzo, but it blows the doors of just about every other meal I've eaten in Italy or elsewhere. I wasn't there during Vinitaly, which probably helped, but I should concede that it has been a while (I went back to my hotel room that night to check on the Bush/Gore election results, which made for quite a long night). I plan to return this fall and report fully! ← Consider the 30 mile drive to the three Michelin star Le Calandre in Rubano, a suburb of Padua. Perhaps it doesn't exactly blow the doors off of the French Laundry but based on five dinners at Calandre and two at the FL we much prefer Massimiliano, the youngest three Michelin star chef ever-anywhere. My wife and I were very disappointed in Il Desco but our visit was three or so years ago. It will be interesting to hear Cy's report from when he returns from there.

Yep, you are. But, I think that my parents probably did... ← Over four years ago I organized a lunch on the other board at Taberna during the first Restaurant Week. To the best of my knowledge this was the first gathering in D. C. that anyone had attempted on that board. Ten or eleven people showed up including three who have become part of an informal monthly group that continues to this day. Anyway, one of those there was a girl who father was a good friend of mine in high school.....

I go to Mainz next week. Thank you for taking the time to respond and your recommendations. They are sincerely appreciated.

Joe - just because I know details are important to you, I feel the need to point out that Oprah did actually work for channel 13 (WJZ), not channel 11. She was supposed to be second fiddle to Richard Sher on the show "People Are Talking." It didn't quite work out that way. And, the C-O-L-T-S Colts Memorial Stadium home was a few blocks east of Greenmount on 33rd, at 33rd and Ellerslie. ← AAArgh!!! You're right!!!! Humbly, obsequiosly, timidly, feebly.....I was wrong. And the worst part, is that I was wrong about something that I really feel that I remember a lot about!!!! Well, in my defense, when you get to my age (!) one's mind plays tricks. Or something to that effect. Never mind that I don't look my age although I do color my mustache, sideburns and.... Or that there is an artist, Markus Pierson, that I relate to-big time! Did you ever cruise the Varsity on 40 West? Or am I a decade or two too early? Thanks, Cindy. It's really nice to know that someone shares some of the same memories.

Phyllis was as sophisticated and knowledgeable a reviewer as I have ever read. I also sort of "grew up" with her when she took over at the Post, knowing that she knew and liked the places I grew up with. Like myself she was a native Washingtonian. Over time she acquired a national reputation and while she did not have "postcards" as Tom does she would, occasionally have a major article that would encompass 10,000 or more words in the Travel section featuring, among other cities, Vancouver, Singapore and Paris. These were exhaustive efforts that I saved for years. What was important to me was her persepective: I tended to agree with most of her opinions (even down to leaving Crisfield's for Gifford's to have dessert!). I regarded her on par with any other American reviewer and gave serious consideration to HER favorites when I finally visited several of the cities she wrote about. Today I've represented a company from Vancouver for almost 15 years but on my first visit there I took along her lengthy article. When she wrote that "Vancouver (Hong Kong style) Chinese food was a revelation for a Washingtonian I knew as someone who had organized 25 or 30 banquets at the old Szechuan that I was indeed, in for something special. She also called Singapore the greatest city in the world at the time for someone who lived to eat. Others that I knew who travelled extensively and obsessed on food agreed with her. She was able to make statements like this because she had, in fact, literally researched and eaten her way around the world-she just didn't focus on this or write about her travels very often. This last statement may be the criticism of Tom-his postcards which may seem to imply a kind of national ambition to some. But Phyllis Richman, for me, was a gift to this city. She promoted it and grew her self in stature as she, in turn, reported on D. C.'s growth. Where we disagree is that I felt her writing reflected her extensive and worldly experiences. Unlike-even myself-she didn't incorporate this in her writing very often. It is no secret that I am a chauvinist to Washington. It's also one of the reasons that I DO mention better restaurants in other cities-to point out that some of our restaurants play well on even an international stage. It is no secret that I believe that Sietsema could play more of a loyalist role while still retaining his integrity and honesty. Phyllis did. The once a year or so features on a single city seemed to allow her weekly focus on Washington. Monthly "postcards" can be a distraction from Washington. But I believe the reason he does this is to give the same type of perspective to Washingtonians travelling elsewhere who share, for the most part, his taste and judgment. Reading his on line chats, every week, there are a number of people who ask his opinion of other cities. In my industry I write a restaurant column for a trade paper focusing on the cities our trade show is in. I have done this for seven or eight years and have built my own credibility with those who read it. Circulation is somewhere north of 50,000 but many people after visiting restaurants I've liked in, say, Atlanta, Orlando or New Orleans will go out of their way to ask my opinions about the upcoming city. I'm flattered when I'm asked for cities that the 30,000 attended trade show has NOT been in. Point is that for the same reason that I carried Phyllis' opinions with me to Vancouver and that many ask Tom's opinions in his Chat and I have my own "following" if you will, in my industry, there is an audience for this. Her approach was different from his. Still, she may have been as worldly as anyone on earth, especially in her last few years.

No doubt in Le Chateau, with an occasional stop at Bob's Big Boy for a double decker and Tony's Villa for your pizza fix before catching a movie at the Allen theater. Still too scared to go on the sideways roller coaster at Kiddyland, Rocks. ← Actually, when I went to the Allen I also cruised the Hampshire Mo as well as Queenstown. The Chateau was from '70-'88. In the '80's I actually preferred the Crossroads to either of the Studebakers. But all of this is another story. Didn't Don Geronimo go to Northwood?

Having just returned from Black Salt and what is now the best seafood stew of ANY restaurant in the Baltimore/Washngton area (labelled a nondescript "seafood stew") I could not be in any greater mood to attack Tom since I could not disagree more emphatically with his rating. Yet, why is there a problem with Cindy Wolf's new restaurant? She once was at Georgia Brown and opened Charleston in Fells Point, moved it a few blocs away and now it is a legitimate four star restaurant by Tom's standards here. This is one of the most interesting and long awaited reviews-for me-that he's had recently. I already drive from Reston to Baltimore for Charleston, Black Olive, Angelina's and a few others. Why not a significant new restaurant worth the trip in Fells Point? Or Easton? Or Washington, VA? Or White Post? Or Flint Hill? Or, gasp, Reston? I am actually impressed that no one has agreed with the person that started this thread that a trip to Bawlmer by DC's reviewer is a waste of time. Of course, it's not. Several hundred thousand people who work in the Washington area LIVE in the Baltimore metro area. A lot of people who live in Columbia, Bowie, Millersville, Annapolis, Frederick subscribe to BOTH the Post and the Sun. With almost 9 million people (not an exaggeration) now living in the greater Baltimore-Washington metro area and no longer any farmland between the two, with traffic lights, strip shopping centers and fast food places at regular intervals for over 120 miles of U. S. route one from Fredericksburg to Bel Air we have become a metroplex sharing elements of each city. I lived at New Hampshire and the Beltway for 20 years. For three of these I dated a girl in Parkville, for two a girl in Fairfax. Parkville was a faster drive. I watched WJZ and remember Oprah when she worked for channel 11. When neighbors went to RFK for the Redskins I went to 33rd and Greenmount for the Colts. In fact to anyone in the Maryland suburbs of D. C. the University of Maryland is THE school; George Mason might as well have been in Richmond. My point is that with so many people living in so many different areas, each with its own perspective and influences I believe it is EXPECTED that the Post restaurant critic visit, at the least, a significant new restaurant in a neighboring part of our Metroplex or greater area.

I had dinner at Vetri in December, and it's nothing like Maestro. It's more like a country-rustic Obelisk in style, size and pricing, and features less innovative, more filling, perhaps even (forgive me) heavyhanded cuisine that satisfies more than it dazzles. Marc Vetri is a wonderful, charming chef-host who made several appearances in the dining room, coming out to slice meats on his antique slicer (and Joe, you would appreciate this thing, given your regaling stories about your ice-cream maker), and at the end of the evening, proving himself as an engaging, interesting conversationalist. I had a wonderful meal at Vetri, and it's neither as ambitious nor as impressive as Maestro, but I assure you that this is a stylistic statement and not a value judgment. Cheers, Rocks. ← Really interesting, Don. I hope enough New Yorkers venture to Tysons to sample Fabio that he can be fairly judged this time (my opinion and editorial comment form the two previous attempts). Thanks.

I believe that the five nominees for this award really settle on these two. I could be wrong but they are actually somewhat similar in style. Has anyone been to BOTH restaurants that might have an opinion? I know that Vetri only has 35 seats and is "creative Italian" as is Maestro. Also, similar to Maestro, there are two prix fixe dinners with the average check for two around $300 +. I have NOT been to Vetri but am curious if anyone on this board has and their opinion? Thank you.

Did anyone happen to notice that ALL of the new restaurants nominees are from New York and that four of the five nominated for chef of the year are from New York? Hmm.....where is the Beard Society located? Congratulations to Fabio for three years in a row of nominations; this year his most interesting competitor is from Philadelphia- who has Vetri. Also, applause for recognizing the Bread Line's Furstenburg and Kinkead's sommelier for the only national award. Interesting that Vegas was almost completely shut out, too!

Noting a post of your's on Dal Pescatore where you mentioned Schwarzwaldstube, how would the two restaurants you mentioned compare? I've been to both Schwarzwaldstube and Bareiss, several times for the former. It is one of my favortie restaurants anywhere in Europe (along with Le Calandre). On Thursday night of this trip I'll be in Paris and will have dinner at Le Cinq. Friday and Saturday are not, for me, considered on the same level. I tried to return to Schwarzwaldstube but couldn't get in. Same result wiht Bareiss. But I'm open to a serious dinner either night. Would either of these approach the two restaurants in the Black Forest?

Really interesting thread. I liked Dal Pescatore, even after spending fifteen or twenty minutes cleaning the chicken feathers off the seats of the rental car that I drove to get there. Seems that I left a window cracked several inches on a hot summer day! For me this is a superb restaurant with several dishes that were just extraordinary. I was attracted to it because of John Mariani's article in Esquire that called it, immodestly, "The World's Greatest Restaurant." Note that I have this framed on a wall in my house and I thank him for the article. My neighbors are jealous of my having been there. What they don't know is that Le Calandre, another Michelin three star, is far superior. Yes, FAR superior. Cy, I type this knowing that you will be there in just a few weeks. I also know that you will be visiting Alle Testiere in Venice which, while very "simple," it's food is easily on par with the "country luxury" of Pescatore's cuisine. The original post in this thread noted Schwarzwaldstube in Baierbronn. I thought Schwarzwaldstube was MUCH better than Dal Pescatore. I have not eaten my way through San Sebastian YET but expect to be able to within the next year or so for a further note of comparison. Still, Cy, it will be really interesting to hear your thoughts about Le Calandre knowing your experience with Girardet, Robuchon, Ducasse and others. I don't think, despite my extensive hyperbole, that you will be disappointed. Then, without crossing an ocean, there is a restaurant in the Washington, D. C. suburbs called Maestro whose chef was nominated for a James Beard Rising Star award two years in a row. He is the exact same age as Massimiliano from Calandre. His cuisine is every bit as good. (He and Massimiliano know each other by the way!) I believe that Le Calandre is the best restaurant in Italy. I also believe that Maestro is its equal. Note that Fabio at Maestro sources many of his ingredients from the same sources as Massimiliano. Today Maestro has a 6-8 week wait for a reservation. At some point over the next several years this restaurant will receive the same recognition that Keller has for his French Laundry. For me it is certainly on the same level. Cy, when you return from Italy we need to have dinner together at a shopping mall in the D. C. suburbs.