bilrus

Who was it who said I beleive that would be Flava Flav of Public Enemy in "A Letter To The New York Post". I KNEW all those times listening to that album (Apocolypse 91, The Enemy Strikes Black) would finally pay off in a conversation someday.

Maybe some of our newer members who were on the show can answers this. What are the chances that he is sitting at home watching this for the first time along with us, smacking himself upside the head and calling to scream at his publicist (who he was complaining to in the first episode), Mark Burnett or his dog? Has he been out actively promoting this lately?

This sounds worse than the soft opening at Rocco's.

Good luck with that. The whole Rocco's thing sounds like a screwy situation all around. You might be lucky to be out of there.

Zenial, I'm sure that that is the case, but can you tell us that a number of the people (at least the ones featured on the show so far) weren't "cast" to make the show more interesting (at least to those who don't know and respect the restaurant business, like most of us here) as opposed to being "hired" for their abilities.

That's interesting. At Tosca for dinner there was a separate RW menu within the Dinner menu. They still were offering tasting menus and the alacarte. We didn't feel really rushed, so it might have been a downtown lunch thing.

Welcome JRage.

I don't remember the exact prices at Dragonfly, but it is probably between the 25 and 50 dollar ranges you are talking about. It is small, but I liked it a lot.

Who does that work then? Also, have you gotten to Tosca yet? I am interested in a second opinion.

It's obvious that party of the "Qualities" of the staff needed for this place (at least during the filming part of the show, were quirky personalities and good/interesting looks - at least on the part of the FOH staff. Think about some fo the "interviews" he had with them - one question (if you can believe the editing) got them hired. I consider myself a pretty cool and intersting guy (albeit one who weighs 400 pounds), but you didn't see me trying out to be on The Real World, either.

Hi, Bong. (I wanted to say that even more. Although I am sure you have heard it all before.) Is what the five star restaurants serve similar to the Tandoori Chicken or Chicken Tikka that we get here? And do the non-five stars do any tandoori chicken dishes, despite what they are called?

I went a few weeks ago on my visit to NYC without having read this thread. My wife and I had had such a good experience at Babbo, we wanted to give Mario one last shot before we left town. In a word - ehh. Everything was in the acceptable range (except the bread, which was just not good), but nothing Pizzas, a salad) was in the outstanding range - even the gelatos (or I guess more properly gelati). We didn't have any problem with the noise or any wiat (there were only about 4 full tables at noon on a Sunday. It was defintiely not somewhere we would go out of our way to eat again. But we already have plans for our next trip to Babbo.

My wife and I went to Corduroy last night and had a great meal and experience. She started with the "Buffalo Mozzerella Porcupine" which was a good portion of Mozzerella wrapped in Phyllo and fried, served with a tomato coulis. It comes out looking like a cactus or ..a porcupine, hence the name. It was reminicent of the bar food standby - fried cheese, but in the best way, with good ingredients (if that is not too incongruent). I had the lobster salad with a basil oil ($5 upcharge). Very good and almost refreshing. Nothing to take away from the lobster's flavor. We were both tin the mood for meat, so for my main course, I had the lamb sirloin with goat cheese ravioli. The lamb was prepared to a perfect medium rare and served in a reduction with red wine. The ravioli were not quite as good as I had hoped on their own, but worked well with the sauce. My wife had the Strip steak with gruyere potato pancake (also a $5 upcharge). The beef was also cooked to specifications and served in a red wine pan sauce (thicker and more luxurious than the sauce served with the lamb). For dessert I had the cheese platter ($4 upcharge), which although the server said it was a small portion was in fact a huge portion of five cheeses. The cheese was ok, but I was surprised it wasn't served with any sort of sweet to balance it. This was probably the low point of the meal. My wife had the Michel's Kit Kat Bar" and it lived up to its advance billing. I am not a big chocolate dessert fan and this might have been the best chocolate dessert I have ever had. It makes me want to go to Citronelle just to try the original (among other reasons). As for the room itself, I actually liked it. Not fussy or stuffy but also not as spartan as people describe. Lots of room between tables and the noise level was perfect - not somber but not loud. As I posted earlier, we went to Tosca on Tuesday and although it was OK, we felt it was a little stuffy and the tables on the banquette were so close together it felt like a communal table. Nothing like that here. We didn't feel rushed or like second class citizens. The entire menu was the $30.03 prix fixe for the week. On the long drive home (to Ashburn), we realized that we were smiling and still talking about the meal all the way. I guess that is the sign of a good meal.

Chicken Out sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Since all the locations are in Maryland, I won't hold my breath. Almost worth relocating for, but not quite. Sorry, I didn't realize it was local. Every time a chain opens I assume it's national. Is Boston Market still around in other areas? That was a national chicken place that offered fresh veggies. Most of them closed around here but there are a few still open. I like Chicken Out too and didn't realize it was local (I am in Northern Virginia). Apparently outside of the DC are there are 2 in Charlotte and 2 in Georgia.

Glad you enjoyed it. Welcome to DC.

I am curious about this. Isn't it better for both the restaurants and the servers if the place is full during the week with people spending say 15 or 20% less than if the place is half full with people paying full price? Obviously there is more work involved, but I would think that the extra money would be worth it, if only for that week. I know in my one summer as a waiter (even though it was at a Pizza Hut), many years ago I remember hating the busy periods, but I liked them once they were over, assuming I wasn't being tipped in pennies (as happened a few times).

The utz Salt and Vinegar chips are pretty darn vinegary.

Bankchef, do you have a link to info for the Market. My wife is going to be in town next weekned and would be interested in the artisan festival.

Tosca was very clear about the promotion with the RW menu inside the regular menu. And the waiter asked right away if we were familiar with the promotion. But how do you stop people from being idiots, like those Mark mentioned?

My "I absolutely can't bring myself to make anything more elaborate" meal is a can of Goya black bean soup with diced sauteed onions and garlic, a half can of diced tomatoes, Cholula hot sauce served over Minute Rice with Garilc Salt and Butter. (I know, I know, but the rice is a memory from childhood that I just can't shake.)

This is a little long, but I guess I just like talking about food (maybe that's why I like eGullet?) I went to Tosca last night and would say that it was good but I was expecting a little more. I did the Restaurant Week menu and my wife ordered off the regular menu. We were started off with an amuse of what I believe to be prosciutto wrapped goat cheese. This was one of the more flavorful items of the night with the two stong flavors working well together. I read somewhere where someone mentioned a good bread service here, but I thought this was the low point of the evening (aside from the amazing loud and festive party of six seated directly behind me - they even sang at one point and it wasn't Happy Birthday). The first basket of bread we had was a few slices of plain Italian bread with no butter or olive oil. We did eat it because we were hungry and the second basket included a foccachia with onions on top, which was OK, and the wiater gave us olive oil with the second basket. For our first course I had the "Traditional tomato and country bread thick soup with house made dry aged ricotta and basil pesto" and my wife ahd the Radicchio salad with walnuts, gorgonzloa and pear. The soup was good, with an actual bright tomato taste, but not really thick as described. Although it seems a little lame to order a salad in place of something more substantial - I actually really liked the salad (we always pass back and forth), as I thought the gorgonzola was very good. I liked the presentation of this dish, which had the cheese and pear on the side. For our main courses, I had the "Roasted Mediterranean Sea bass with a balsamic vinegar sabajon and sauté spinach with pine nut and raisins". This was just OK - not much different than what you can get in a number of other restaurants. The sabayon was perhaps the best part of this dish. My wife ordered a Pappardelle with crab meat (that isn't on the online menu). I thought the flavor was OK, but the texture was a little on the soft and thick side. My wife enjoyed it, but looked like she was tiring of it by the end. Last week we had the pasta tasting menu at Babbo in New York and I have a feeling it will be a while before another pasta dish wows us like those did. For dessert I had the "Organic tomato marmelade sweet tart with ricotta-basil gelato and basil syrup sauce". This was the item that I was looking most forward to and it didn't disappoint. Sweet but not cloyingly so it did have one flavor I couldn't but my taste buds on but it worked. My wife had the "Crispy strudel of local peaches with amaretto cookies, mascarpone cheese and vanilla cream with Dolcetto wine syrup". Again this was good, although in my (one) bite, I didn't see much of the syrup. This had the look and feel of a peach spring roll. Finally we were presented with a small bite of chocolate cake and two of the lightest and crispest cookies I have had in a while. I think the dessert was the best part of the meal for me. Steve mentioned that this is a key to the RW experience, so I guess that worked for me. In the end, I am glad I tried it and felt like the value for Restaurant Week was fine (It saved about 8 or 9 dollars for my meal over what it would have cost off the menu), but I am not sure I would go back with so many other options to choose from. I have heard Tosca compared favorably to Galileo and Obelisk. I haven't tried Obelisk (yet) but I did like Galileo better on my one visit there. Now its on to Corduroy on Thursday. (Edited out remnants of my post from that other food site. I feel like a cheating spouse who just got caught. )

I hate to admit it, but I love a good PuPu Platter. Don't see those around to often these days.

That review is hardly a review of a restaurant that "transformed into a decently functioning, high volume restaurant". High volume, maybe... In more ways than one, I guess.

But what about the Toys and the Maple Flavored "Griddle Cakes"?

I am TIVOing, but that doesn't help, now, does it. Although I do get to avoid all the commercials - at least the ones that aren't part of the program.