Top-notch Italian-- been to Maestro, Laboratorio

[bilrus]

We do agree - I just think that putting too much emphasis on experience would discourage a lot of the interplay we have around here. As sometimes happens, I may overstate the case a little bit.

I certainly get out to eat my fair share, but we aren't all in the position of Tom Sietsema being able to have multiple melas at hundreds of restaurants (or DonRocks and Joe H for that matter - both of whom seem to eat out at a professional, or at least AAA level and frequency).

[Joe H]

Actually he introduced a new consideration: that it's "nowhere near the heights it hit in the mid '90's." Having first gone to Obelisk in the early '90's and consistently averaging at least two visits per year since I've had several meals with courses that were merely very good or satisfying. But overall, over the years, I've found there to be a rather remarkable consistency in the level of excellence of this restaurant. I've also eaten in enough restaurants around the U. S. and Italy (perhaps 30 or more starred restaurants over the past 20+ years in Italy) to feel that by my standards, Obelisk continues to excel for the style that it is. No, for me it is not Maestro; perhaps not even on the level of a one star. But it is essentially simple food done very well-if I found myself in it in, say, Florence or Siena or Genoa I would be very happy when I left.

My real concern is from the perspective of having a sister who has owned a restaurant that was considered one of D. C.'s best by Phyllis Richman. (This is before her bankruptcy.) She, as many on this board, put in 80, sometimes 90 hours per week. At age 64 she is still doing this although she is now a caterer. It is one thing for her to be "punished" with criticism when someone visited and left unsatisfied. It is quite another, especially now with message boards like this and the influence of many who post on them, for a restaurant to suffer because of a single opinion passed along with a very narrow base. I think this is unfair. I also believe that most on this board who are in the industry will relate to what I am suggesting. One customer, vindictive because of a singular experience, can literally be poison for a restaurant if they actively promote their negative experience.

If I am guilty of hyperbole and exuberance for D. C. area restaurants (and, yes, Citronelle is one of them; mine was the winning bid on Michel's jacket at the James Beard dinner) it is because of a real sense of pride of how far this, my hometown, has come over the years. We DO have national class restaurants now; no, there are only a handful. (Yes, Zaytinya is one-of course) Obelisk is also.

I passionately believe that excellence-based on what I have put into my own mouth-deserves to be defended. For too many years Washington, D. C. didn't have a single restaurant even worthy of a defense.

[Joe H]

Bilrus-I've travelled 125+ days per year on business for almost 25 years throughout North America and Europe. This includes annual driving trips of 8,000 miles here and 5,000 km overseas. At this point I hate travel. Having been obsessed with food since shortly after birth I reward myself for far too many nights away from home. A number of these meals are also on business. For all of my discussion of starred this and starred that I've probably spent more energy and time driving out of my way for bbq, pizza, fish and chips and curry over the years. Most people who travel as much as I do may enjoy food and wine but don't share my life long obsession. I've just learned to take advantage as for many others mine are not their priorities.