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Another one for Acadiana. $25 for half a duck with rice and stuff...I thought it was right on point. Delicious.
Had lunch at Zaytinya on Sunday. Restaurant week menu for $20. Wasn't bad, but for one of the "best" restaurants in the country, I didn't come away impressed.
I agree with the small plates thing. I hate it. But, I will say I had the best gnocchi in the history of man at Mike Isabella's restaurant Graffiato.
I'm going to WD-50 for my birthday in NYC next month. I'm very curious to see what I get.
The top notch restaurants are known for not using the best ingredients during restaurant week. I'm kinda over restaurant week. I hate that the "chef" chooses the cheapest items on the menu. If I'm doing restaurant week at Ruth Chris' I want the gosh darn steak!
There's no reason DC area restaurants can't be at SF's level. Top 10 to top 5 is very achievable.
That's what I'm saying! DC has one of the highest median income in the country, tons of farms, wineries, beaches and oceans within 1 hour's drive of the city, a young, international crowd fueled by all the embassies and global organizations, a sophisticated, highly-educated workforce that can appreciate finer things in life and most importantly, a recession-resistant economy. Why DC has to charge NYC prices but provide sub-par food is beyond me.
Personally, I think DC can be within the top 3 - at least it should be able to displace Chi-town.
That's what I'm saying! DC has one of the highest median income in the country, tons of farms, wineries, beaches and oceans within 1 hour's drive of the city, a young, international crowd fueled by all the embassies and global organizations, a sophisticated, highly-educated workforce that can appreciate finer things in life and most importantly, a recession-resistant economy. Why DC has to charge NYC prices but provide sub-par food is beyond me.
Personally, I think DC can be within the top 3 - at least it should be able to displace Chi-town.
Pfft. DC is not bad, and i do think that it will improve over time, but DC is NOT a hotspot for culinary innovation. SF is known for some of its restaurants based out of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Chicago has a lot of innovative restaurants at the top level like Rick Bayless. New Orleans is just a food town in general. What is DC known for? Even Houston produces excellence in BBQ, Mexican and its great restaurants with much lower prices and better service than most cities.
DC also suffers from a conservative populace, conservative fashion choices and a bunch of chains (again, there is a Potbelly on every other block in DC). DC's only real trump card is it's international populace. Ethiopian is probably the only area that DC truly excels in and has an advantage in over most of the country.
That said, again, it's not bad. The food trucks allow options for good food at reasonable prices. And DC does draw from influences from around the country and around the world. I've never seen a New Haven style pizzeria outside of New Haven, yet we have one. But in general, the food is more bland and overpriced than it could be and should be.
Pfft. DC is not bad, and i do think that it will improve over time, but DC is NOT a hotspot for culinary innovation. SF is known for some of its restaurants based out of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Chicago has a lot of innovative restaurants at the top level like Rick Bayless. New Orleans is just a food town in general. What is DC known for? Even Houston produces excellence in BBQ, Mexican and its great restaurants with much lower prices and better service than most cities.
DC also suffers from a conservative populace, conservative fashion choices and a bunch of chains (again, there is a Potbelly on every other block in DC). DC's only real trump card is it's international populace. Ethiopian is probably the only area that DC truly excels in and has an advantage in over most of the country.
That said, again, it's not bad. The food trucks allow options for good food at reasonable prices. And DC does draw from influences from around the country and around the world. I've never seen a New Haven style pizzeria outside of New Haven, yet we have one. But in general, the food is more bland and overpriced than it could be and should be.
Two of the top DC restaurants are Citronelle and Komi. The Inn at Little Washington (out in Virginia) is supposed to be the #1 top-rated restaurant near DC and is nationally known. That's about as good as it gets, I guess. No Michelin restaurants in DC (yet). So far, only 3 U.S. cities have those.
Pfft. DC is not bad, and i do think that it will improve over time, but DC is NOT a hotspot for culinary innovation. SF is known for some of its restaurants based out of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Chicago has a lot of innovative restaurants at the top level like Rick Bayless. New Orleans is just a food town in general. What is DC known for? Even Houston produces excellence in BBQ, Mexican and its great restaurants with much lower prices and better service than most cities.
DC also suffers from a conservative populace, conservative fashion choices and a bunch of chains (again, there is a Potbelly on every other block in DC). DC's only real trump card is it's international populace. Ethiopian is probably the only area that DC truly excels in and has an advantage in over most of the country.
That said, again, it's not bad. The food trucks allow options for good food at reasonable prices. And DC does draw from influences from around the country and around the world. I've never seen a New Haven style pizzeria outside of New Haven, yet we have one. But in general, the food is more bland and overpriced than it could be and should be.
I visit SF and Chicago frequently (Chicago is the home of Potbelly, where they are on just about every other block there as well). As in DC, I find myself having to "work" to eat well in those cities, especially SF-proper as a lot of top places serve very similar California-Mediterranean/locally-sourced/seasonal cuisine and are dispersed in neighborhoods outside of the downtown core where I am usually staying. My last recent visit, I hit up a highly touted place called AQ, and in typical SF fashion spent nearly $100 bucks on some minimalist, barely there artisan stuff, that left me unfulfilled and hungry. That certainly has happened to me in DC (just last week at Bar Ripple in Cleveland Park), but I just don't this idea that other cities are overflowing with reasonably priced innovative cuisine on every block.
I had a great meal a few weeks ago at Restaurant Nora. My family has also enjoyed a multiple good meals at St. Arnold's in Cleveland Park this summer. We like mussels and their fries are excellent. You get a pot of mussels, a huge order of fries, and a ton of bread. You will not leave this place hungry. My kids enjoy it too. I wish it was open for lunch.
My vote for most over-rated dining/bar experience in the city is the rooftop bar at the Hotel W. Very expensive and awful menu. Shrimp cocktail and sliders? Really? A friend really wanted to go there who was visiting in the Spring, and I swore I would never return. I don't mind paying a premium for the view, but please, at least make a more interesting menu.
I completely agree with OP about the food at Tabard Inn. The bar is great though.
I agree! My family and I visited DC in October. The first day we were there we saw a Cuban restaurant (we're Cuban, so it interested us). We decided to go there for dinner, and it disappointed us. It was pretty expensive and the food sucked...The workers weren't even Cubans which is pretty disappointing too.
I find DC restauranting scene to be more corporate than a lot of other cities. The restaurants are funded by investment partnerships who often partner with well known chefs from other cities or bring concepts that were successful elsewhere. So these are really businesses designed to make a profit to take advantage of the amount of expense account business that happens around here.
Those great mid-range restaurants in other cities are often restaurants that were founded by families and grew from strong word of mouth. They aren't run by financial professionals. My favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago had this amazing appetizer that was their most popular dish and what they were known for. They never raised the price for it in over 10 years, despite almost every diner ordering it and probably would be willing to pay more for it. At a corporate place, they would double the price of it.
The only real family owned type restaurants I see in this area are Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, El Salvordorean, Ethiopian etc. Those are the best bargains you can find.
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