bilrus

No, not even fried. (OK maybe hidden in a REALLY good gumbo)

St. Louis (Three Choices - in this order): Toasted Ravioli (deep fried ravioli served with marinara sauce for dipping) Pork Steaks (a slice of pork shoulder grilled with bbq sauce, a summer cookout staple that can only be found there) St. Louis Style Pizza (Thin crisp crust, with Provel cheese cut into squares)

Its interesting how one person's favrite could be another person's least favorite. The Sea Urchin was definitely on my list of lows. And I agree about the Trout Roe. It is such a distincitive and strong taste that you can't remember much about those dishes except that they had trout roe in them.

Bahama Breeze is owned by Darden Restaurants which also owns Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Smokey Bones BBQ. Defintiely one of the Big Boys.

I am interested in that answer too. I have always understood a confit to be something cooked in is own fat. But you see onion or mushroom or fennel confit quite often.

He's got a hat.

You could skip the wine and just order water :) tap or bottled?

I doubt that they would be able to do that. There is so much coordination, with everyone at the bar being served the same things at the same time. The mini-bartender was telling me that that is the reason they phase new dishes in so slowly.

I made my reservation for tonight one a week ago and then yesterday was able to move it to last night. Don't know about for two though.

THey say that it "evolves". THey said that if everything changed at once they would have chaos on their hands in trying to maintin consistent prparations with all the dishes. There are a few changes. Instead of watermelon cubes in one flight they ised pears. There were only four tomato items I can remember *it is all a blur). One used a seed pocket from a Roma tomato. Another used small diced, again, probably from a roma. One of the injections used a cherry tomato (blanched and skinned). And the final one was the sorbet. I don't think any of these really required height-of-the-summer freshness to work. Another new dish I had not seen anyone mention was Egg 147. An egg poached at 147 degrees for a half hour, craked in a small bowl with (if I remember correctly) black truffles and powdered sugar. Sounds wierd but it did work.

Finally made it myself last night and had a good time. I'd say about 75% of the dishes worked for me, which is a pretty good percentage considering everything they are trying to pull off. I loved the "Guacamole" with tomato sorbet; the Mojito in a mister; the "New England Clam Chowder"; the "Meat and Potatoes" (the dish with the Truffled Tissue); the Mango Soup with Pop Rocks; the Conch Fritter; the Caesar salad; and I even liked the Foie Gras with Cotton Candy (maybe the first Foie Gras I truly liked). Other items like the Watermelon Air (watermelon juice whipped into a froth) or the Sea Urchin with Pomegranite Foam didn't do it for me, but other people at the bar seemed to really like those. The "wraps" and "raviolis" worked the first time or two, but the dishes that stood out were the ones that were creative on their own, not just because they were little bites wrapped in something unusual. (although the guacamole that is in one of the wraps is about the best avacado product I have ever put in my mouth.) All in all it was fun and I would recommend it, but not to everybody. Only someone who looks at food as fun would "get it". I thought through all of my friends (aside from my imaginary friends here on eGullet) and I couldn't picture any of them sitting next to me there and enjoying themselves the way I did.

I have had terrible Q from the location near Rosslyn, but have avtaully had some good meals at the one in Leesburg. This is a reminder that I need to try more BBQ around here. Not that I would walk more than halfway around the arena for it, but I had a pulled pork sandwich last night at the Caps game from a place on the club level. Not great but better than the ubiquitous cold hot dog. And the "homemade" chips were actually pretty good.

Welcome to eGullet. Unfortunately Kinkeads is closed for renovations. In the Post chat today Tom said it was originally shceduled to be open next week, but I got the impression that wasn't happening. I've never been but want to give it a shot once it is opened up again. It gets mixed reviews around here and I want to have my own opinion.

I did see that. Nice to have some context. Unfortunately Tom can't use or or in his chats.

I will probably end up there at least twice a week. It is ten minutes from my home in Ashburn. And is only a very slight detour from my route home from work. I've nver been to a Wegman's either, but if it is half as nice as what I would expect it will be well worth the extra five minute drive past a Safeway, Giant, Food Lion and Shopper Food Warehouse.

I guess I would be interested in that too, considering it never entered my mind when I made my reservation. Hopefully not everyone on here is as big a *sucker* as I am.

According to the recording when you are on hold for the reservation line they are offering a five course menu or a nine course tasting menu - either vegetarian or the "signature" tasting menu. Elsewhere on this thread (I think) I read that it was $135 for the nine course menu. All the same as French Laundry if I remember correctly.

There is obviously a lot of excitement in food geek circles (like here on eGullet) surrounding the opening of several high-end places in the new Time Warner building. I just made a reservation at Per Se and I know I am excited. That said, there seems to be quite a bit of uncertainty about the potential for the project, and several high profile chefs are putting their necks on the proverbial chopping block and takign the plunge. Even the unflappable Thomas Keller had this to say in Time Magazine: What are the thoughts on this in New York restaurant circles? Can the concept of a high-end "Food Court" work and can (and will) the city (as big and wealthy as it is) support so many new places so close together? And if it fails in the end, what impact would it have on the chefs who tried to make a go of it?

I was surprised to see in last week's chat that the chef there asked Tom to stop referring people to his restaurant.

I've never heard of it either. You might want to check out Jaleo. Also, there is an Irish pub in between the convention center and MCI. I think it's Fado. Kozy Korner is at 20th & N--apparently it's a real diner or close to it--the food is supposed to be good. Just the place for a late breakfast on my morning off after a hard night of entertaining. I like that Fado--it was the first one I'd ever been to. Much cozier than the one in Chicago where I ended up because I hadn't done my homework on egullet first. I probably loved it more because I didn't know it was a chain, but it became my home away from home on a previous trip a few years ago (same show). I forgot to say that I love Marrakesh and was planning to drag a group there by cab but Zaytinya might fit the same bill and be more appealing to the crowd--dare I ask, what's the call? Zaytinya. Might be my favorite place in the city in terms of both food and atmosphere.

That could be a description for the aforementioned Zaytinya.

I had a similar incident at my office's Christmas dinner. I recommended a place that I have been to several times and have had good conversations with the chef in the past. Four of the people in our group of 11 (including me) got sick that night. I e-mailed the chef and he promptly responded, was very apologetic and sent a personal apology via e-mail to the other people who got sick. There was never any mention of a refund or gift certificates or anything like that (our meal would have been well over $1,500), but the fact that he was responsive and immediately apologetic more than made up for that. Thread on my incident I'll go back there again because I know that that sort of thing can happen despite the best precautions. If I had any doubt that those precautions weren't being taken I wouldn't go back.

Everything I have heard is that it is all scene and not much else. That sounds like what you described.

I assume it is the same 60 day in advance (with the 30 minute window for getting through) as at TFL?

Aren't they grits before 11AM?