DC 2010 new summer restaurants: pizza from Mendelsohn, mussels from Wiedmaier and much more.
We’ve been looking forward to Robert Wiedmaier’s latest effort – Mussel Bar By RW – but there’s much more, including Spike Mendelsohn’s pizza joint. Zagat covers the high points here.
Restaurant critics speak out, express their opinions on citizen criticism, or “Cit-Crit”.
Bon Appetit posted a pretty good article about citizen criticism which focuses solely on what the paid critics think about the medium. Overall, I’d say more critics are displeased or off-putting than embracing, and many fail to cite any solid reasons for their distaste.
Our opinion (since we heard you ask): it’s just one more avenue from which to make dining decisions. We’re guessing if 20 out of 21 solid reviews all have nothing positive to say about a restaurant’s food it might be worth listening. On the other hand, if the citizen critic seems to be preoccupied with the beautiful crowd or the time waiting to use the WC we’re not so sure this someone we’d listen to.
Heck, half the battle is making sure you’re getting food that didn’t fall of a SysCo truck the previous week.
BLT Restaurants chooses the name GO Burger for new restaurants to open in DC, NY, LA.
BLT has announced their naming contest winners and their new burger joint’s name. Not surprisingly, the winning name (GO Burger) was sumbitted by a number of people, so I guess they all get 50 cents apiece for their efforts.
More importantly we get another burger joint, opening soon in Georgetown.
Crêpe Amour opens in Georgetown.
Crêpes seem to be the latest big thing to join cupcakes and burgers. Crêpe Amour, an early entrant to the incoming tsunami, opened last week.
Let us know your take.
Queen Vic gastropub to open in the Atlas District (H Street) with eel pies.
Atlas District (credit: Flickr/cynroux)
You’ll have to wait until June to enjoy a tasty eel pie at The Queen Vic. Yum.
Great to see yet another add to the seriously up and coming Atlas District.
News: Robert Wiedmaier readies ‘The Mussel Bar by RW’ in Bethesda as Beck and Marcel’s continue to delight.
Robert Wiedmaier
Robert Wiedmaier has announced he’ll open what we think will be a surefire bet: a new mussel bar in Bethesda.
The Kitchen Troll still contends Wiedmaier’s Brasserie Beck sells the best mussels available.
The Mussel Bar by RW opens early June.
French Prez Nicolas Sarkozy hits Ben’s Chili Bowl for lunch.
Sarkozy at Ben's Chili Bowl (credit: TMZ.com)
Is there any doubt French President Nicky Sarkozy loves America and everything it symbolizes? TMZ reports the French prez took it one giant leap further today by testing his refined guts with a lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl.
Not for the uninitiated if you ask us. I wonder if his earlier rants about the American health care system have anything to do with the cost of antacids at that Rite Aid he probably visited right after landing in the Land of the Free?
Hay-Adams Hotel may add floor and insert a restaurant with awesome, birdseye White House views.
Hay-Adams Hotel (credit: Flickr/NCinDC)
DCist reports the Hay-Adams Hotel is strongly considering adding a floor to the building and opening a restaurant in the space. If this comes to pass, average folks like us will for the first time have an opportunity to check out The White House with the same clear birdseye vantage point movie directors and the Department of Veterans Affairs Vermont Avenue bigwigs have had for decades.
Score one more for the people – er, at least one more for those willing to pay for food with a view.
Foursquare makes you the mayor of the places you go most. With Zagat integration, it could revolutionize restaurant reviews and awareness.
Foursquare just signed a deal with Zagat. If you find yourself running around with a smartphone in hand and don’t know what Foursquare is, you should take a look.
I think this could be the model that pushes participant-based reviews on the map, perhaps even adding elements of crowdsourcing that will revolutionize the way these places do business. I could easily see a tool like this combining with Opentable to deliver easy reservations and queuing.
Top Chef headed to Washington.
The Washington Post is reporting that Top Chef is coming to DC for its 7th season.
What took so long? Three of the show’s contestants and both finalists are local chefs, and even Spike recently opened Good Stuff Eatery in DC’s Capital Hill.
Red Kabob (Mediterranean – Leesburg, VA)
Red Kabob Leesburg Virginia
Red Kabob entered the Loudon exurban strip mall family-owned restaurant act in mid 2009, giving dominant player Moby Dick a much needed run (the Loudoun area lacks the sometimes overwhelmingly diverse Mediterranean options found in other parts of the DC Metro). We stopped in for lunch yesterday and would use one word – serviceable – to describe the experience.
Meat was great as were the spices used, beef was cooked to order and not dry like some kabob joints. Rice was great but would pass on the bread (not fresh or wood fired in preparation from what we could tell) and sauces were solid but a bit thin. Still, the family atmosphere and readiness to take on any special preparation requests make Red Kabob worth a try.
Would we recommend? Yes, with only minor reservations. Food quality of everything but the bread was solid, and it’s an owner operated, friendly, local business. Considering the serious lack of quality cuisine in central and eastern Loudoun County, Red Kabob probably should be on your list.
Red Kabob
521-A E Market St (right by Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts)
Leesburg VA
http://redkabob.com
Want to try great ethnic food in the DC Metro? Start here.
Photo Credit: Chris Buck / Source: The New York Times
Here’s Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide. Now go.
Seriously, though, Tyler’s recognized as being an authority on great ethnic eats around DC. And the best part for suburbanites: you don’t always have to go into town to get it. Cheaper strip mall leases mean great ethnic food all around the ‘burbs.
Enjoy!
Belgian Bargain at Brasserie Beck (and mo’ great beer deals at Pizzaria Paradiso)
Brasserie Beck
The M-Ones will take any chance we get to plug Beck and Wiedmaier. Great guy, great food, great beer selection.
Been to Pizzaria Paradiso as well, and we think it’s the among the very best pizza and best microbrew selection in town.
Get out there!
Tim Carman: Favorite Northern VA restaurants, and why DC has less ethnic food that it should.
Simple: economics. Come on over to Northern Virginia and you’ll find lots of great options because the rent’s cheaper.
There’s also a great list of NoVA eats here. Try ‘em out!
Carman on Why D.C. Has So Little Great Ethnic Food – City Desk – Washington City Paper.
A Foodie Manifesto and Resolution
Food doesn’t have to be predictable to be wonderful. And food doesn’t have to be eaten in the Taj Mahal to be memorable. Don’t judge food as great because you waited in line to have you name added to a list, the customers are all dressed well, or several expensive SUVs or sports cars are parked close by.
Source every ounce of food you eat at home and in restaurants. If the proprietor can’t or won’t tell you where he gets his ingredients don’t trust him and move on to the places that will. Fresh food without chemicals or warehouse time and distance should be a prerequisite for anything you put in your mouth, regardless the end taste.
Surprise yourself and a small restaurant owner by stopping by that tiny place you keep meaning to check out. Remember, both the Olive Gardens and Cheesecake Factories of the world and Walmart are systmatically destroying small business owners in their categories, but only Walmart is actually putting money and value back into their customers’ hands. That’s not the giant food conglomerates’ faults: it’s ours.
Union Jack’s British Pub of Ballston (Arlington, VA)
On entry an unexciting, nondescript, even slightly dingy joint located in Ballston Common Mall, Union Jack’s fails to deliver the sort of energy I anticipated. Food and tap are so-so – in other words, as bland as UJ’s atmosphere. A decent but not remarkable beer selection delivered by overworked, unexceptional wait staff possessing minimal knowledge of anything they serve.
The one standout item on the menu is the Spotted Dick. Outside a consistency which made it a tad rubbery (read: nuked), the sauce and the cake share space with a sauce that was more caramel in texture and color than the custard of a conventional spotty. The taste of it, however well surpassed conventional and kept me coming back for more bites.
Perhaps dining next door at the predicatable, solid Rock Bottom and moving to Union Jack’s or dessert is your best bet.
The Dock at Lansdowne (Leesburg, VA)
Seriously? If The Dock strives to avoid exceeding the low food quality of the Lansdowne restaurant bloc, they’ve succeeded wildly. Overpriced, often frozen seafood at premium prices, all served in a passable attempt at urban hipness. Though the bar/lounge is generally hopping with the middle-aged suburban set many nights, don’t let this fool you into thinking their congregation is an appreciation for great food. Their web site home page is an ‘equal time’ split between the two, further validating a less than relentless commitment to cuisine.
Skip The Dock. And unless you’re headed for a quick, cheap bite at California Tortilla, so far our advice is to skip Lansdowne entirely. And if you’re looking for great seafood, don’t stop at Hooked in Sterling, either. Look for the M-Ones Hooked review here.
19286 Promenade Drive
Suite P-101, 102
Leesburg, VA 20176
571.333.4747
http://www.thedockatlansdowne.com/
Mountain View Diner (Charles Town, WV and Frederick, MD)
Fits the image of the big, dumpy, great diner – all the way down to the food and the service. And the menu’s massive: if you can’t get it at Mountain View you probably can’t get it at any American restaurant.
Mountain View Diner is M-Ones’ favorite breakfast places within half an hour of Northern Virginia’s outer suburbs. Order the hash browns no matter what: they’re fresh and never cooked quite the same each time we get them, and that’s the best part. Omelettes come loaded with the stuff you order; no skimping on meat here. You can’t come underdressed either. The Meandering Wrangler stops here on its way to lots of different outdoor activities.
811 Willow Spring Dr
Charles Town, WV 25414-4440
(304) 728-8522
http://mountainviewdiner.com
Mario’s Pizza (Berryville, VA)
Pizzas, subs, and basic Italian dishes served in a more or less typical pizza parlor atmosphere that’s open and feels not unlike a firehouse. Diverse menu featuring great pizza, a few different beer selections, and footlong subs that only cost fifty cents more than their six inch versions. Mario’s is a family favorite and a great alternative to cheaper chain restaurants in its class. Highly recommended for a casual, inexpensive meal in a casual atmosphere anytime.
36 West Main Street
Berryville, VA 22611-1341
(540) 955-4848
Michel Richard Citronelle – Washington, DC
Until today, if I had to choose one culinary hero it would be Michel Richard, I own ‘Happy In the Kitchen.’ I keep up with his new restaurant adventures. We’ve made a reservation twice before here, and have had to cancel due to something else coming up. Three months ago I made this reservation for our anniversary dinner of 15 years, and I knew it would either be ‘three time’s a charm’ or ‘three strikes you’re out.’ Great, we made it to today and nothing has gotten in our way yet. We had plans to drop off Syd at her grandparents’ place on the way in to Georgetown. The fates were clearly still conspiring against us because we suddenly got a flat tire on the highway not 10 minutes from dropping off Syd. But we were still early and had time! SQ miraculously swapped the tire out without so much as a smudge on his dress shirt, and Peepaw came out to meet us and took Syd with him. The traffic in Georgetown was slow and cumbersome, as every Saturday night is, but we made it right on time. I took my cookbook, hoping for the best…even though I felt like a ridiculous groupie carrying this giant book into a very upscale restaurant. I asked if Chef Richard was in, but got a different answer from everyone, which was incredibly irritating. The staff at the front were very nice, but overall the atmosphere is very stuffy. We were prepared for expensive, but I still had a little sticker shock from the menu. Tonight would be a la carte…the tasting menu was off limits for our budget.
Camino Real Mexican Restaurant (Berryville, VA)
We’ve been driving to Berryville a bit more lately for dinner lately. Leesburg has gotten a bit tired, and the options there aren’t incredible to begin with. So tonight was our third foray going west for dinner while Syd was at a birthday party. Mexican sounded good so we decided to give Camino Real a try. It’s a tiny place downtown, not much atmosphere…but Mexican always seems to be best in these types of places. And we weren’t disappointed here. The chips are OK, not the best and not the worst I’ve had, but the salsa was great, very fresh and flavorful. Off to a good start so far. The menu is full of options, perhaps too many, and it’s very straightforward Mexican. I ordered the two enchilada combo, chicken, which came with rice and refried beans. The food comes out very quickly here and the plates were scalding hot. Everything was very homemade tasting…clearly no Sysco truck pulling up to the back regularly. The red sauce on the enchiladas tasted like very fresh tomatoes pureed with Latin spices, and the chicken inside was freshly roasted and pulled. Even the rice and beans had flavor, which is something a lot of Mexican places must find really hard to do for some reason. The food prices are very reasonable, and the bottled beer barely costs more than a soda or iced tea. Overall, the best Mexican within at least 20 miles of our house…we’ll be back.
La Golandrina – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Our first nice meal was spent at La Golandrina, a pleasant outdoor grill in the Cabo San Lucas area. The weather had been pretty chilly through the day with steady winds and little to no humidity – both weather factors which should be accounted for this time of year. Like most beach destinations, it’s really easy to believe the weather’s going to always be hot but that’s definitely no guarantee for early spring in BCS.
Having made “Trapper’s List” – not sure if that’s Trapper John, MD or some other lesser known Trapper – the strong review and our understanding of the surroundings led us to believe this was going to be a great experience, and it was.
When we arrived, we saw reasonably prevalent entourage of Californians staring at us on our way in (I think Virginians look weird to Californians and vice versa, though we tend to look down more rather than stare). We lack tans, enemas, facial peels, skin (and other body) surgeries but we’re pretty easy to get along with if that can be overlooked in favor of a reasonably cerebral bent.
Once we were properly put away (er, sat down), we were shown the local rules: head down to the giant menu board, and choose from what would seem to be an endless range of options for meat. You’ll see the usual quality meat choices – alone or in tandem – scattered throughout the board, and a few possibilities that we definitely think shouldn’t be overlooked despite their inconspicuous placement.
There are plenty of options up and down the bill, running anywhere from $25-30 for single items to $45-50 for combinations, but that’s not to say that no great combinations can be found in the $30-35 range. My dinner choice was the Seared Ahi Tuna and Shrimp combination, and both were fresh and cooked as expected.
Again, there’s really not much complexity here: you look at the board and return to your table, you order your food, and – if the food quality is good and it’s cooked right – you’ve hit the jackpot in much the same way you would at any grill. With respect to food quality, on a 1 to 10 scale I’d give my Ahi Tuna a strong 8 or 9, the shrimp an 8, and the lobster tail I stole from a neighboring plate a solid 8 (you need to favor warm weather lobster over the cold weather creatures to truly enjoy it, though).
Now for what you need to know… the can’t miss menu item is the caesar salad, prepared fresh at the table. This was without a doubt the best caesar salad I have ever had, prepared with incredibly moist, fresh romaine lettuce and paired with a dressing created right in front of you with the focus and capable results of a fine chemist. I truly have now idea what went into the end concoction – it’s consumed consistency seemed much thinner than a typical caesar despite what looked like a mayonnaise-like substance going into the mix with an egg or two early in the process. This was one of those items on my ’still can taste it’ list, and I’m inclined to see how to import it to the states for several attempts in the home kitchen.
Now that I’ve raved about the first item last, let’s get to what matters… the summary.
Location:
You’ll like it if: you enjoy freshly grilled food in a festive, yet refined outdoor patio environment and aren’t bothered by an occasional West Coast sniff (yes, we know we look pale, misshapen, unblonde, and all that)
You might not like it if: you’re expecting some strong Mexican or Latin-fusion experiment from each of your BCS dining experiences
If you could only order one thing, it would be: the caesar salad
Overall rating: 3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars
Is it on my list of “must eats” in the area? Definitely
Blue Duck Tavern
1201 24th St. NW (in the Park Hyatt), Washington, DC 20002
202.419.6755
www.blueducktavern.com
We ate at Blue Duck Tavern in DC last night with our friends Kirstin and James. They came to visit after a trip to New York, before heading home to England. If you get the chance to eat here…GO!!! Seriously, make your reservation now. This is one of the best meals we’ve ever had in town. It is connected to the Park Hyatt Washington, and you might almost go right by it if you aren’t paying attention. The atmosphere is dark, cool and not pretentious at all. We were wearing jeans, but you would feel just as comfortable, maybe more so, wearing something a bit more upline than that. We were there on a Sunday evening, Fridays and Saturdays may be a bit more dressy.
The waiter brought a plate of Concord Grapes to try, and I almost forgot about the bread these were so good. And I don’t even normally like grapes. I started out with the Pumpkin Bisque soup, which had a tiny square of gingerbread covered with ham in the center of the bowl. It was creamy and not too sweet. I devoured the whole bowl. We had ordered a bottle of Byron Pinot Noir, and I’m not sure if this went well with everyone’s meal or not but I didn’t care. Pinot Noir is my favorite wine, and this was a very good bottle. SQ ordered the Crab Fritters as his starter and I swiped a bite. They were crispy on the outside and incredibly creamy on the inside, very fresh tasting.
I ordered the Maine Scallops for my main dish and they were perfect, nicely browned on both sides. The side dishes here come family style, so we went a little crazy and ordered Chanterelle mushrooms, Sweet Potato Grits, Mashed Potatoes, and Sweet Potatoes done like wedge fries. I don’t care for Sweet Potatoes, so I can’t comment on those but everyone else seemed to like them. The Mashed Potatoes were really smooth, not lumpy at all, and the Chanterelles were cooked nicely and not mushy. We were onto our second bottle of the Pinot, so I was getting quite full…but there’s always a little room for dessert.
SQ wanted the chocolate cake with flaming bourbon, so I shared some of that with him. James ordered Chocolate Smores Ice Cream. This had all the actual smores ingredients in it, very yummy.
The whole concept of this restaurant is freshness, quality and working with a lot of farms. They source through several in Pennsylvania. The menu changes seasonally, and they even post on the menu where your food is coming from. The options should also make anyone happy. If you can’t find something on the menu you like, you don’t like food.
Not Your Average Joe’s
19307 Promenade Drive (Lansdowne Town Center), Leesburg, VA 20176
571.333.5637 notyouraveragejoes.com
This is my second visit to NYAJ in Lansdowne, I went with a friend for lunch today. Again, the foccacia and dipping oil was superb, but that’s as far as that went. I ordered the Spinach and Pear salad, and asked for them to add chicken to it, an option with all of their salads for an additional fee. When our lunch finally came the salad had no chicken on top and was absolutely swimming in the Maple Vinaigrette dressing, which tasted more like straight maple syrup. The pears were hard and crunchy and the spinach was at the end of its shelf life. Another 1/2 star out of 4 for this experience as well. I don’t think I want to go back anymore.
Details
Cuisine: American
Price range: $8 – $17
Locally-based? No
Reservations? Yes
Kids menu? Yes
Vegetarian dishes? Yes
WiFi? Yes
Smoking? No
Hours: Su – Noon to 9pm, M-Th – 11am to 10pm, F-Sa – 11am to 10:30pm
M-Ones Cut-to-the-chase Summary
Did we enjoy it? Not really
Would we go back? Already did, so we’ve probably exhausted that path
Worth the money? Not even at the price
Rating: 1/2 an M out of 5 MMMMM
