Tuesday, November 4 at 11 AM

Lots out that way that's good.

Let's see … Cheogajip chicken for great, spicy, crispy Korean fried chicken. Sweetwater Tavern for American comfort food and a fun, lively atmosphere. Tippy's Taco House for old-school Tex-Mex — crunchy, thin tacos, sunken burritos and enchiladas. Rasoi of India for tasty curries and excellent breads. Minerva for its superlative Indian buffet, maybe the best in the area.

And all those spots are affordable and child-friendly, too.

I'd love to hear about that, too.

Any other groups that go out on a regular basis like this? Where do you go?

And I'm glad the 100 Best has been such a good guide for you. Thanks for writing.

We've all been there; it ain't fun.

But I'm not sure that calling the restaurant is the thing to do.

And that's because, so far as I understand it, it's just not possible to pin food poisoning to what you just consumed — even if it seems so obvious to you at the time. The offending food might have been something you ingested 24 hours earlier. It's really hard to know.

To begin with, what David Winer has done, is to ascribe motive to what Tom Sietsema did. To ascribe motive, when motive in all of human affairs is at best unclear. (George Bush said he looked into Putin's soul. We all saw how that turned out.)

That was bad.

But then Mr. Winer went to the editor of the Post magazine and tried to suppress what was written about his restaurant. He succeeded — the offending review has been removed.

I'm not going to comment about what Tom did or didn't do; that's not my business. But I will say that he is exceedingly scrupulous and fair, and I have never known him to savage a restaurant for sport. I think restaurateurs are very lucky to have him as the critic of the most important paper in the city. Readers, too.

There's one more thing I want to say.

Mr. Winer has not just impugned a man's motives, he has not just used bullying tactics, he has not just suppressed the written word.

By telling the City Paper's Tim Carman that he fears retribution from the "covey of restaurant critics … who may have coffee together," he is sowing paranoia and, in so doing, hoping to gain sympathy and support from his fellow restaurateurs, who no doubt have taken note of his strong-arm tactics. (He is also forgetting that Tom and Tim and I work for different publications and are therefore in friendly competition with one another. For the record: Tom and I have never had coffee together.)

Have I eaten at Commissary? I haven't. But I ate several meals at Merkado Kitchen, the restaurant it replaced, and I have eaten several meals at Logan Tavern, its neighbor just down the block — another of Mr. Winer's restaurants. I have also eaten at Mr. Winer's Grillfish. They're mediocre restaurants.

Going after a critic — and it's happened in Philly, in New York, and also here — is a convenient out for a restaurateur who would rather not admit that his business has problems and that he needs to take action from within.

We'll do our best.

With companies with multiple locations and seldom-changing menus — as opposed to restaurants, which tend to change dishes often — I think our chances are slim at best. They're going to fear that a competitor is primed to swipe their secrets.

But as I said, we'll try. Thanks for the request, Carolyn.

What's this?

I said I tip pre-tax, and I said that everyone else I know does, too. And not all of these people, or even most of these people, have kids. Or fancy budgets. (Speaking of ad hominem attacks … )

It's your fellow chatters who weighed in and shot the idea of tipping post-tax down. (I didn't see a single comment in support of post-tax tipping.)

I try not to demonize people who come on and have a different view — unless their intent is to demonize me or others. I may respond candidly and honestly, or disagree with you, but that's what a discussion is, isn't it? It's not just a bunch of courtly exchanges out of Jane Austen.

Or maybe my married-with-children friends on a fancy budget and I are just more volatile and real when we get together to talk. (Oops.)

But seriously … I'm glad you wrote in, and maybe we can get some more discussion going on this. I'm curious to see who else shares this view.

I also want to say that your comments today are more thought-out and more thorough, and I can understand your thinking on this a little better. I can only know someone by their words — we don't yet have the technology to see and hear a person as we do this.

Last week, it came across, to me, as something different.

 

I'm jealous!

Thanks for the excellent report, Cheverly, and some good and tasty tips, too.

It sounds like you had a fantastic time — it also sounds like you did nothing but eat! But then, what is travel for — walking and exploring and eating. 

Don't count on it.

Just when you think L'Auberge is down for good, it springs right back up. The devastating fire, the never-ending blow-ups between Haeringer fils and Haeringer pere …

Good question! 

But I've been thinking and thinking and nothing comes to mind.

Anyone have any ideas? 

The Source lounge is serving a Chicago-style half smoke in honor of Obama. (And, I hasten to add, a plate or ribs in honor of McCain.)

I don't think I've come across anything at the lounge that wasn't good; and most of the items on the menu are terrific.

I've really liked the ones I've had at Oyamel, Cafe Atlantico, Blue Duck Tavern, and Guajillo. All delicious.

I want to like Pasta Plus in Laurel more than i do. I want to like Equinox more than I do. I want to like the Inn at Little Washington more than I do. i want to like Black's Bar and Kitchen more than I do.

I think that's fair.

And in line with what I hear from my married-with-kids friends and acquaintances, to say nothing of my friends with fancy budgets.

Thanks for chiming in, Bethesda. 

I understand what you're saying.

But this business of "stealing" is complicated. Tim Carman of the City Paper was the first, so far as I know, to write about Nava Thai. Unearthing places like that, that's the real work in my book, and he deserves a lot of credit for taking a chance and then writing about it.

I went and became seduced by the place, going seven times, dissecting leftovers and even venturing into the kitchen to find out what made it so good and distinctive. Along the way, I wrote about it a couple of times on the chog, and then did a longer, more in-depth piece for the magazine.

So, you could say I championed it, but I don't think it's reasonable to say that anyone lays permanent claim to a place — no one's a de las Casas here.

That's not to say I don't take pride in ferreting out the little-known. It's a source of great pleasure, and one reason why I like to devote the space above the chat itself to hidden gems or mom 'n' pops — places that otherwise would never get the attention.

i think the main thing, the important thing, is that a terrific place is getting the crowds it deserves — in the process turning on a whole bunch of people to the glory of Thai street food, and, perhaps, inspiring other ambitious Thai restaurateurs to get in on the act or up their game.

 

Thanks for writing in.

And I really do want to hear from the rest of you — what do you tip? What are you being tipped?

It's interesting. A tip of 22-23% post-tax could be construed as an 18% tip pre-tax. 

Welcome, Boston, and thanks for finding me.

The 20 restaurants I list at the top of the page every week, in the blog portion of the chat, are the places I'd choose to spend my own money at the moment. I like them all. They range from expensive to cheap, from fine to casual, and you can expect very good cooking and, I think, very good value.

Well, now's the time to check out the Cheap Eats in the area.

Lots of those, and many, many good ones. And many are more stylish and more comfortable than you might have guessed. Take a look at our list from June.

 

 

They do, don't they? And Rachael Ray, especially.

And no, I've never been called.

The sad thing is, whoever's doing the research is doing a really lazy job of it — relying on a perception of the city that's at least a decade old, if not more.

Of course, it's much more about style than food on these shows. When Giada de Laurentis did her spot here, she hopped out of the rental car, took the Dupont Metro elevator down, then emerged beaming from the same elevator a few minutes later as if she had just rode the red line in.

And — she was holding a cup of coffee, to boot (verboten on Metro.)

 

Yes.

And that IS the telling detail, you're right — thanks for writing in.

Hey, thanks for the save. … I'm chalking that up to my pre-election, up-all-night-reading-the-polls-and-monitoring-cable brain there.

Unfortunately, I can't make any suggestions for Boston — not up-to-date ones, anyway. It's been several years since I was there.

You're not telling me anything I don't already know. I think Cafe Pizzaiolo's pizzas are terrific — I love the crusts, in particular.

I included it in the piece I did last year on the Pizza Wars, and also on our annual Cheap Eats list this past June.

That's a very good point.

Thanks for chiming in, Gaithersburg.

Oh, all the time. And I tend to agree with you; it's often a lot more fun and rewarding to just order from the top half of the menu. 

The only thing I know that works, by the way, is to order a whole helluva lot of them. : )

 

I'd say the Oval Room is the most exquisite of those five, and Johnny's the most comforting, fun and laid-back.

Buck's can be good, it can be very good — but it's a small menu, and the cooking's sometimes uneven.

1789 has a new chef, and I haven't been since he came aboard — but this is not a place that makes big, lurching changes; it's easily the most stately and traditional — a good spot for taking more cautious, conservative diners.

Cashion's has a sophisticated-casual vibe, and cooking that aims for simple and unfussy; I like it, just not as much as Johnny's.

Hope that helps.

Interesting.

And interesting that we don't have any clear consensus on this. Keep your thoughts coming everyone, please … 

Depends on the restaurant.

1.5 times sounds wonderful, but you seldom if ever see it at a decent, half-way ambitious restaurant. At the more luxurious ones, three and four times the store price is typical.

Yep.

Thanks for writing in.

And I hope we can keep this discussion going, because this is a vital matter to the industry — and a crucial bit of etiquette for the rest of us — and if there's a new standard out there, I'd sure like to know about it. 

I don't really get the sense that there's any kind of consensus here. Which tells me that there isn't a new standard — a generally accepted definition of what constitutes doing the right thing. But as I said, I want to hear more …

Anyway, I'm off to vote — and I hope you are, too, if you haven't done so already.

Be well, everyone, eat well, and let's do it again next week at 11 …

(And look for the start of the Recipe Sleuth department later this week on the web.)

Didn't get your question answered in this chat? Submit it in advance to Todd's chat next Tuesday, November 11 at 11 AM.