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Chinatown DC -- Cool / inexpensive Restruants?

I can't decide if I'm excited about Bandolero. I love Graffiato, but I'm not sure how he'll do Mexican. On the one hand he worked with Jose Garces but on the other will it be a ripoff of his boy Jose and Oyamel? Speaking of Jose, he's gonna launch a new food truck called Pepe which will serve the types of sandwiches he grew up with.
 
Nice, wfudkn in the house!
 
I almost jumped on that but didn't after reading Mike's comments.

Sounds like he's using the pop up as a soft opening to train the staff and work out the kinks. Living Social has bought up a ton of office space in Chinatown/Penn Quarter and is running the kitchen out of one of their new offices to show it off, and the menu is tacos and guac and spins on fajitas and such. The pairings are tequila... I don't know - I'm sure it'll be fun, but for $120 I wonder if it'll be less about the food and more about being in on an early taste of a famous chef.

We went to a pop up he did last year around Valentine's Day and the food was just ok. Still a fun event though. It was almost the exact same idea, but pimping Graffiato instead.
 
I almost jumped on that but didn't after reading Mike's comments.

Sounds like he's using the pop up as a soft opening to train the staff and work out the kinks. Living Social has bought up a ton of office space in Chinatown/Penn Quarter and is running the kitchen out of one of their new offices to show it off, and the menu is tacos and guac and spins on fajitas and such. The pairings are tequila... I don't know - I'm sure it'll be fun, but for $120 I wonder if it'll be less about the food and more about being in on an early taste of a famous chef.

We went to a pop up he did last year around Valentine's Day and the food was just ok. Still a fun event though. It was almost the exact same idea, but pimping Graffiato instead.

I'm sure that's a lot of it. I'm sure it'll have kinks in service and execution, but I enjoy these kinds of things, for the good and the bad. But we're going with some good friends of ours, so regardless we'll have a good time.
 
Yeah, I'm not trashing the event by any means. As I said we had a great time at the last one. I just suspect that of you're expecting Rogue 24 or a flawless fine dining experience that's probably not what it's about. I look forward to hearing a review on it though.
 
Yeah I'm expecting it to have some flaws but I figure worst case scenario it should be a unique experience and $120 for 5 courses/5 drinks including tax and tip isn't all that bad.
 
yeah I was gonna dig up this thread today. debating if I should keep my 7X7 reservation. I assume they will continue to make the same drinks, but wonder about the creativity. this reminds me of when my gf booked had a table at Vidalia 24 (when RJ was still there, his precursor to Rogue), but he left a few weeks before us going. we wavered on cancelling, but she got a call from minibar the night before our res that they had an opening. since that was her original choice, we jumped at it.
 
also, the project she's supposedly working on is right by my house, which is good
 
I'm going to this as well. Got my tix today.

There is a lot of good shit in DC that you could do with that coin. Pepperoni sauce boy doing mexican? good luck.
 
Wow, finally happened. She'd been threatening to leave for over a year.

As for dropping the 7x7, if it were me I'd still do it. Gina's drinks were fantastic and that portion might dip a bit, but Peter Smith cooking a personal 7 course meal of his favorite stuff is still worth it.
 
anyone hit up Little Serow yet? thinking about going solo on V-Day since my gf won't be in town. I'm wondering how crazy the wait will be given the holiday, but my office is practically across the street, so hopefully I can get in right when they open, and if there is a wait I don't mind doing so from my office. So excited to try it.
 
A group of us are going to Columbia Room tomorrow night. Trying to evaluate options for eating a light dinner beforehand. Any good ideas? The Passenger is at 1021 7th Street for reference.
 
Kushi and Mandu are nearby and both pretty good, Kushi is excellent. but it might be harder to get a table there since it's usually pretty crowded plus they just had a Groupon.
 
Kushi and Mandu are nearby and both pretty good, Kushi is excellent. but it might be harder to get a table there since it's usually pretty crowded plus they just had a Groupon.

Thanks Barca!
 
anyone hit up Little Serow yet? thinking about going solo on V-Day since my gf won't be in town. I'm wondering how crazy the wait will be given the holiday, but my office is practically across the street, so hopefully I can get in right when they open, and if there is a wait I don't mind doing so from my office. So excited to try it.

Haven't been yet, but here are some tips from a Don Rockwell poster on dining solo there:

Some practical notes:

Last night, I arrived solo at 5:29pm to stand briefly in line. I asked the hostess about how long the meal would last -- it certainly isn't a 3 hour thing like KOMI, right? She assured me it was more like a 90 minute jaunt, and that was right on target.

Obviously it is impossible to order poorly here -- all the food I had was excellent. But I did manage to eat poorly here. One might wonder what eating "family style" as a solo diner means. Around course #3, I realized it just means that the dishes come as soon as the kitchen plates them (which is actually how I like it).

Unfortunately, at first I tried to eat at a pace to finish before the next course arrived. This is a bad strategy, because around course #4 I began to notice that the portions seemed moderately larger for the solo diner, compared to those for the couple next to me. I've checked with Rocks and he agrees. I ended up heavily grazing courses #2-5 in front of me for a while, but by the time I was 90% done with these plates, I was pretty stuffed and ready to really slow down.

But no. Course # 6 arrives, a killer ped grapao (duck ragu noodle dish with a fried duck egg on top). First tastes blew me away, but I could only try 2 bites at that point, as it was a heavy, rich, involved affair. And then the whiskey ribs arrive! Impossible. I inhaled the dill aroma, sampled a minuscule bite of the deliciousness, and then boxed up three of my remaining dishes.

Trust me, I am not complaining about having leftovers, but I absolutely will reallocate my intakes next time, because I imagine the kitchen wants me to substantially experience all of the dishes while I'm actually in the restaurant.

Now, if you plan to dine solo, please use my testimony and go enjoy some of the most memoriable/enjoyable foods I've had in awhile. I hope this helps. Great food and value.
 
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