I’m Too Old and Tired to Deal with Bad Nights (Review: DiAnoia’s Eatery)

7 April 2024

Although I did have a bit of a hangover after that delicious and fun night at Parlor Dim Sum, I had a busy Sunday in and around Pittsburgh. Sunny and warm, a perfect day. I rolled into my hotel mid-afternoon and dealt with some trip logistics for tomorrow early in the morning. I need to stop doing these Monday early AM flights…

But I was looking forward to a good dinner tonight at the very highly-rated DiAnoia’s Eatery. I first had to return my car to the airport, which was all good, but the crazy prices on rideshare into town. $80 on Lyft, really? I luckily found something a bit less on Uber, but this is ridiculous.

We rolled into the city and I walked into DiAnoia’s on a busy Sunday night. It was still hopping, and they squeezed me into a bar seat. I’m hoping it will go as well as last night! A cocktail in hand and I looked over the menu and ordered. I relaxed and some bread came out.

Not bad to fill my stomach with this cocktail. Soon after my starter came, carciofi.

These artichokes were excellent, wonderful texture and flavour, yum! I’m quite excited for this dinner now…but where is it? I shifted to a nice wine and kept waiting. And waiting… At about the half hour point I was starting to get annoyed, then I noticed they tried to deliver some food to the wrong people…

That’s my food. But wait, why two plates?

They brought my primo and secondo out at the same time. You gotta be kidding me. So they took the secondo back. And when I looked at the primo, my pasta dish, my heart sank. I thought this place was supposed to be good with Italian food?

They clearly messed up somewhere because this cacio e pepe is more like a soup. What a mess. They took a half hour to make something that most Italian restaurants would be horrified to bring out?

Look at this, it’s like I’m eating soup noodles or ramen or something.

This is how much liquid was left over afterwards. They should have called this cacio e pepe con acqua.

And when they brought my secondo out, the server just spilled the jus all over the place with no care in the world. Seriously, really?

As you can see the plate is flooded with the jus, a total soggy mess. This is their take on porchetta. Fine, but frankly this probably sat under the heat lamp because they screwed up the pasta and order, so it was really meh. I ended up pairing this with a grappa because I lost my appetite and want to forget about this evening.

Now the staff have made themselves scarce. After last night’s wonderful service by the city’s friendliest FoH crew, now I get a set of people who don’t care, and have really turned what could have been a salvageable night into one that I will remember for all the wrong reasons.

They took the pasta off the bill, as they should, because it was a joke. But with the bad food that took forever to come out, throw in the dismissive attitude of some of the staff, it sucked. I can’t believe people rave about this place. Maybe it was a bad night, but frankly I’m too tired to deal with bad nights anymore.

Avoid.

DiAnoia’s Eatery
2549 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Nearly Choked by Fishbone at a Restaurant Named Rooster…

19 January 2024

I was still on a high from that amazing lunch at Le Rigmarole. So far Paris has been quite good, although I’m worried that the weather – although it has stopped snowing – may disrupt my weekend plans. But for now, this first day has been quite good, and I’m optimistic about the rest of this extended weekend.

Dinner this evening was at Rooster, a place that goes under the radar from many visiting food people despite the pedigree of Chef Frédéric Duca. Boasting an extensive CV at eateries in France and the US, his 5-year-old restaurant doesn’t seem to get the blogging love (or hype) that other places get. Is that why I chose this for my first dinner?

I arrived and was promptly greeted by Chef Duca and several staff members, leading me to my counter seat where I had a good view of the kitchen. The excellent service pair provided top-notch care of its patrons from start to finish, which is something that I’ve not experienced much in Paris over my visits, so this was a huge plus.

I relaxed as the night’s food and wine began and after a sip of a bubbly, I reached into my starters – and the evening went completely pear-shaped.

Instead of getting some delicious mackerel as I thought I would, I got a mouthful of bone. No, not one or two pin bones, which is an occupational hazard of eating fish (especially mackerel), but the ENTIRE RACK of them. Who in the world would make this kind of mistake at a restaurant of this calibre? UGH!

And I’m not talking about those semi-edible pin bones. I ended up with a rack of ribs. Some went down my throat, some nicely got impaled throughout my mouth and gums.

I taste blood…

I honestly didn’t care about the fritters that also came out, frankly just used it to huck down my throat to help a few lodged bones pass… Come on, WTF was that? What a ridiculous start.

A this point, my expectations are beyond low. If it wasn’t for the two very good servers I may have considered walking out. They seemed utterly shocked when they saw the reminants of this mackerel starter and were very apologetic, as one walked straight to Chef Duca with the evidence.

Chef clearly got the message as he was keeping a weary eye on me for the rest of the evening. Even if he didn’t prep this, it’s his fault for letting it go without looking. The main job of any chef running a kitchen is quality control, and this was a massive fail. Yet, with jetlag now crushing me, I was willing to keep going.

Things looked up a little with this amberjack dish, which they said was a perennial favourite. The raw amberjack was good, although I was eating it very deliberately, not wanting more bone down my throat. I noticed Chef Duca was staring as I was taking my initial bites… The flavours, mixing elements of mustard, citrus, and carrot worked well with the fish. And I’m happy to report, no bones.

Next up was the veal tartare, so I (hopefully!) don’t need to worry about bone. I think there were too many distractions on this plate, such as the tarragon sabayon, which clashed with the veal. Even the bottarga didn’t quite work here. For a bottarga devotee like me to say that is not good. Everything non-veal on this dish fought against the natural goodness of the veal.

We move into the first main course with the sea bass. Nope, no bones, thank goodness, and it was quite good. Only the whelks were way overdone and staring to petrify, but the fish itself was very good. Nowhere near the quality of stuff I had at lunch at Le Rigmarole, but it did its job.

The last of the main courses is the lamb, and I have to say I was glad I stayed after the bone debacle, as this dish was fabulous. Chef’s talents finally shone when he let the main ingredient be the star. Absolutely lovely quality meat here, helped on by the delicious jus.

At this point I am absolutely puzzled on how a kitchen can deliver something so good like this lamb and crank out something that 99% of kitchens would be horrified to send out like that mackerel. Alas, that’s perhaps my Paris expectations coming back to earth after the lunch that turned out to be too good.

Being my first night back in Paris, I went with a cheese course, and that was much needed.

Delicious selection, one of the true joys of being in France is the variety and quality. I love variety in my cheeses, from geographic to biological to process.

A pre-dessert before we have the final dessert focusing on the pear.

Not bad, especially as a pear fan, but I think the cheese won the evening here after the lamb. Well, that’s that, time to head out.

Unfortunately at this point the sommelier did something that is just really, really unprofessional. He actually returned my credit card, after scanning it, right into a plate that had just held food. Really? Maybe it was just crumbs, but still that is so not proper. Seriously, what’s next, return the card in an empty glass of wine?

And not a word from Chef Duca about the debacle. He can’t pretend to hide behind any language barrier, having spent several years of his life cooking in NYC. So this last bit of comedy and him hiding from his kitchen’s mistake tells me plenty.

Oh, we went from perfect execution at lunch to this mess in a matter of a few hours. If it wasn’t for that lamb and my two fabulous servers, this evening would have sucked at a level not seen for a long time. Un désastre total…

Yep, back down to earth. Merde…

Rooster
137 Rue Cardinet
Paris, France

A Ridiculously Poor Excuse for Dimsum – Review: MingHin Cuisine (Streeterville)

17 January 2024

My quest to find good dimsum in Chicago has been ongoing. Too many disappointments, from just poorly-made products to inauthenticity in flavour. So one evening after a long day at the office, I decided to stop off at MingHin Cuisine for a quick dinner.

I have never been to their Streeterville location, even though it’s relatively close to my office. I’ve had some good food from their main Chinatown location, so I have high hopes.

Immediately those hopes were falling as I walk into the malodorous restaurant…not the most inviting smell, especially in River North. Placed into a big banquette, I ordered. As they did not do wines by the glass, I went with tea. And I’m glad I did, as things just went pearshaped when the food began to arrive…

First, these pork ribs were a complete disaster. Tiny shards of bone everywhere shows an absolute lack of care in preparation. Plus more often than not there were nothing more than bone. Probably the very worst version of this dish I’ve ever had over hundreds of times eating it. Plain awful.

The tripe was absolutely flavourless, like they totally forgot to season it during prep. Almost no sense of ginger, one of the prime essences of this common dish. Again, just piss poor quality.

The crab roll would have been good if it wasn’t literally soaking in oil. My goodness the amount of residual liquid oil inside these rolls could have filled a sauce plate…

Then some very uninspired shumai, but you literally cannot screw this dish up, but they still tried somehow… Sloppy is the word.

And finally, the wrapped sticky rice was the last straw. Poorly made, the contents are all cheap and not traditional, and they weren’t even inside the sticky rice – but added on the side like the person who made it had no idea what these dishes are.

I’m done. This is extremely sad, like dimsum being made by people who either never been in a kitchen or have no idea what dimsum is. For MingHin to do this is even sadder.

Avoid this location at least. The main Chinatown shop needs to do some quality control, and fast! I can’t imagine how much the rent is on this space for them to serve some of the WORST dimsum I’ve had in my life!

MingHin Cuisine (Streeterville)
215 East Ohio Street
Chicago, Illinois

An Excruciating Sushi Experience (Review: Sado)

12 November 2023

I made a quick visit to St Louis as there was a few things I wanted to do this weekend, including catching a non-staged performance of Cavalleria Rusticana. But really, it was a cheap Southwest flight that did it, a rarity these days since they jacked up all their prices earlier this year.

As much as I was busy all day Saturday, I was looking forward to an early, pre-concert dinner at Sado. This is the new project from Nick Bognar, who created an excellent dinner for me during my last visit at his popular eatery, Indo.

I got back to St Louis mid-afternoon and quickly checked into my hotel and got my bearings before heading out for an early seating. I got there and a line built up, but quickly I was led to a corner at the sushi bar. This should be good.

A cocktail in hand and I poured though the menu. Goodness, they have nodoguro! I was nearly in tears from the nodoguro at Aji just a few weeks ago, so I’m definitely doing that. In fact, I’m just gonna do all nigiri tonight. So I ordered and finished my cocktail.

Took a little to get my server’s attention to get some sake, but it soon arrived, and we begin with the aforementioned nodoguro.

It’s been a long time since my heart sank so drastically so quickly… What did they do to this fish? Why so much adulteration, with an incongruent spicy? This didn’t work at all, and it really saddened me. I don’t think I’ve had nodoguro that made my frown before in my entire life. I was almost in tears for the wrong reason here…

Maybe it’s an anomaly, they just overthought the adulteration for a seasonal fish. Let’s hope that’s the case. At this point they comped me itoyoridai.

It’s okay, but nothing special. Again, it’s overwhelmed by all the noise on top of this fish, far more intense and intrusive than most modern omakase places. What’s wrong with complementing the fish instead of fighting it? It’s like how modern chefs drive me crazy, they think they know better than mother nature on taste. Instead of bringing the fish out, they just overwhelmed it with other stuff – ostensibly to show that they are doing something?

That was confirmed with the saba. So much unnecessary work on this, plus the texture was ruined by the misplaced sesame seeds. I could barely taste the richness of the mackerel here. Are they hiding bad ingredients? I don’t think so. But why all this? And it’s not like Aji and other top modern omakase places around the country, this is wholesale “let’s change the taste profile of the fish” adulterations.

Two more minuses. The rice is barely keeping together, and there’s some poor knife work here, especially on the back side of this (thankfully not shown).

They comped me a bowl of brussels sprouts, and I had to admit this was quite good. And I sighed, as this turned out to be the best part of the dinner.

A rather meh unagi was next, and I was just waiting to finish this dinner and get out of here. Plus service has collapsed, so I was nursing my sake knowing it’ll be impossible to get another drink (or even my server’s attention) before I am done here. And the next item made the evening even worse…

This was just poor knife skills. The otoro was nearly shredded, and it fell apart in my hand. Oh, did I mention the rice was poor, and it was barely intact all night? This shows you how poorly this beautiful fish was cut.

This piece literally fell off the fish. So ridiculously bad this evening, I almost forgot I had one more item, uni.

I won’t even comment, I’m done.

Took ages to get my server’s attention to get the bill. And it comes. And it’s more expensive than that excellent omakase at Aji. In fact, 10 pieces of sushi here, and some sake, cost more than any omakase I’ve been to in years, including in more expensive cities. And 10 pieces of questionable stuff, from bad rice to terrible cutting to just ridiculous adulteration. And they already tack on a mandatory 20% service charge…for absentee service? Friendly, nice, but when you cannot get service, nice just doesn’t deserve 20% on an over-the-top expensive dinner for terrible quality.

Oh, I’ve not had such a bad dining experience for a long time. I think I need to avoid St Louis again…

Sado
5201 Shaw Avenue
St Louis, Missouri

* It’s a shame, since Cavalleria Rusticana turned out so good this evening. What a damn shame…

Box It Up And Get the Heck Out… (Review: Homestead on the Roof)

6 August 2023

I got back from Milwaukee on yet another delayed Amtrak train. Like I said in the previous post, what’s an Amtrak trip without a delay? Sigh… And it’s raining in Chicago? Wow. I walked across the street to catch a bus west, and that took awhile. But the bus driver was having an animated conversation with another bus driver and missed my stop – despite me yelling.

A wimpy apology and he stopped. I legged it back to the stop to catch my transfer. This evening is not starting off well. I got to my dinner destination, Homestead on the Roof, early, and was offered a seat in the completely empty rooftop space. Quite nice. But when it’s empty you also know the service sometimes falls apart.

I miss Portuguese food, and this venue’s current rendition is Portuguese-inspired, which is a huge plus for me. My server was nice, and walked me through the menu as she brought a very delicious cocktail. She gave me a few recommendations, then I chilled over my drink and pondered my choices.

Then the busser came by and offered his recommendations. I’m happy to take recommendations from anyone, but I find it very, very strange when you have a staff member openly trashing multiple items on the menu. I appreciate the honesty, but really? Wow…

So when my server came back, I ordered, and switched to wine as I was done with my excellent cocktail. It seems that’s when everything started going pear-shaped.

A group started to gather in the large tabel in the middle of the rooftop space. No biggie. My wine came, and it was one of the stingiest pours I’ve seen in years. Wow, really? Definitely disappointing. Then my food arrives.

The smelts aren’t bad, but they didn’t come out hot. When it’s freshly fried, they tend to be hot. So I know what happened. Sigh… Most of this went into a takeaway box, by the way.

The cod croquettes are pretty good, I’ll admit it. Now these taste like they were made somewhat recently, so that’s a plus. The big table was getting a bit loud, but I’m glad they’re having a good time.

At this point it was impossible to get my server’s attention as it seems she’s running every table on the rooftop. I eventually got another runner’s attention and I switched to a red. And another stingy pour. Wow, I guess it’s policy here. Disappointment growing by the second.

As I was sipping on this wine, two of the people on the big table started making an Asian eye joke. Really? Really?!

Eventually he saw me giving him a dirty look and I think it dawned on him. Sadly, all that tells me is that they say shit like that all the time, and they feel bad not because they’re racists, but they got caught. Pathetic. But once again, the second time in three nights, despite me skipping lunch and being hungry, I lost my appetite.

Plus that soggy cold smelts dish already put it on the backburner, to be honest. Then the last of the food rolled out.

The pork belly was not bad, I will admit. But my patience for the evening has run out.

The “wild mushrooms” dish is so-so, but the much-vaunted duck rice was underwhelming…

The rice part of it was okay, but I think there was more fruits in this than duck. A second container quickly filled up with most of the last three items.

No dessert, not even a taste of malasadas, the treat I grew up with. I’m not risking this kitchen again, nor am I patient enough to listen to this group’s ramblings. And I can’t get my server’s attention because she’s now responsible for half a dozen tables. I’m too tired for this, so the same busser who gave me those “don’t try these” recommendations took my payment…

…Or did he? He came back claiming I never put a card in the folio? Huh? FFS did he drop it? Did it fall down the gap into the abyss below deck? He was insisting I didn’t pay, but I told him to go look for it. And, of course, he came back with a wimpy apology when he found it.

For fuck sake, not again. This reminds me of the same idiocy at the previously-solid Seviche in Louisville. And frankly, who teaches staff to BLAME THE CUSTOMER in these cases when most of the time it’s careless staff?

Now I love FoH staff and I appreciate how busy they can get, but both situations were nowhere near busy enough for this kind of carelessness. For someone who routinely tips over 20% to show my appreciation for hard-working service staff, this evening did not rate it.

This has not been a successful few days with restaurants…

I grabbed the boxes and got the hell out of this rooftop. It ain’t no homestead, and I ain’t ever coming back. And those racist morons can fuck off back to Lake County.

Homestead on the Roof
1924 West Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

When a Prime Rib Ain’t Prime – Review: Tortoise Supper Club

21 July 2023

I had one of the longest weeks at work all year and I was tired and stressed. This wasn’t helped with a painful case of costochondritis. This flares up once a year or so, and this was not the week for it…

So with all that, I wanted a good dinner. The afternoon started well with a much-needed happy hour with colleagues at the office before we scattered. My destination was an early dinner at the well-regarded Tortoise Supper Club nearby.

They are famous for, amongst other things, their weekend prime rib. After finding out that Ward’s House of Prime will be closed when I visit Milwaukee in a fortnight (very unfortunate), I needed a prime rib fix. Nothing beats Ward’s, but let’s see if this place gives it a good run for its money.

I got there and was seated in the main dining room. I did not realise that the happy hour specials here do not extend into the main dining room, so there goes my appetiser plans. That’s a shame and pretty ridiculous, but oh well, since their daily appetiser special turned out to be something I would have ordered anyway.

A martini in hand, and I relaxed… It’s early, so it’s nice and quiet. I needed this down time. And when the lamb arrived, I smiled.

Well, that smile didn’t last too long. As much as it looked and smelled good, this was blander than bland. The lamb was so neutral it could have been faux meat. Why do people source these awful, bland, “I don’t want it to taste like lamb” lamb these days? Sign. I struggled to finish it as it was just not exciting at all.

Sigh. Oh well. I switched to a red after I finished this and waited for my main course. My heart sunk a little when it arrived.

Well, it certainly don’t look like anything Ward’s would serve. When you get a prime rib doused in jus, you know the meat is poor. And they call this a “king cut” which would have been laughed at by most reputable purveyers of prime rib. And I would have excused it if it was good, but again, it was ridiculously bland, even with it floating in a jus bearing a weird consistency. It really did not match my expectations at all; in fact, it may have been one of the very worst prime ribs I’ve seen, even worse than some of the ones you get at awful buffet places that I still shudder to remember from my childhood.

The broccolini was probably the best thing I’ve had all day. I was so deflated I actually didn’t even finish my food. The only saving grace of the night was the service, as my server was extremely friendly and efficient. And this ice cream.

Good to close the night with this and a drink before heading out. But what a total disappointment. I know where I won’t be coming back to again – especially as a prime rib lover. Avoid, avoid, AVOID!

And my rib cage still hurts, throwing more insult to this evening. Sigh…

Tortoise Supper Club
350 North State Street
Chicago, Illinois

As Bad As Their Namesakes – Review: Taft-Díaz

3 June 2023

I flew into Albuquerque for a short rest from a very busy few weeks at work. Memorial Day weekend was not very restful, but the trip to Kentucky and surroundings was nice (except that last dinner at previously-reliable Seviche). Yet I didn’t wind down, and this was the reason for this trip to the Southwest.

Instead of staying in Albuquerque upon arrival, I headed south towards El Paso – the largest metropolitan area in the US I’ve yet to visit. After this, it’ll be Spokane and Amarillo I think… It was a good time to clear my head, which I definitely needed. Got to the border city with plenty of sunlight, and it was still ablazin’. Got to do a few things I wanted to do that afternoon, so very much worth it.

I got near my downtown hotel and there were tons of blocked roads due to a downtown street festival. Oh goody, pounding music until past midnight. My hotel was not bad, a restored old office building that was rather charming. I relaxed before I had to head to dinner across the street at Taft-Díaz – a restaurant named for the two presidents who held their historic cross-border summit here and across in Juárez in 1909.

As a historian, a restaurant named Taft-Díaz would get my attention. However, when I walked in, I realized all it was was a gimmick. Inside the chic Stanton House hotel downtown, I walked into a modern mess – with dive-bombing chandeliers. Yes, you read that right.

I offered to sit at the bar but they said the service is better at the table. Well, I see why…the restaurant was absolutely empty on this Saturday evening. I don’t know if it’s because of the event nearby, or the price point here. Wow, looking at the menu I was thinking this looked more like NYC or Boston with those numbers.

I ordered a cocktail and looked over the menu. After a little, it arrived. Not bad. But then my server, probably bored, was becoming a little pushy about me ordering, constantly asking me every other minute. So before I had a chance to relax after this long afternoon with a nice cocktail, I ordered just to get him off my back.

The bread was much needed, as I’ve not eaten all day. Nothing special, but in about 10 minutes I would be so glad they were there… Eventually I switched to a wine and my starter arrived, the so-called “Mexican butter” on the menu.

I was excited, but then it all went south very quickly. The problem is that the marrow is very liquidy and having poorly-made porous tortillas just makes this a complete mess to eat. Frankly only 1 of the 4 tortillas (this first one) was fit for purpose.

And the tortillas went downhill from this point (this below is one of the better ones)…

This is why I am so glad I had so much bread leftover to mop all this up. But the marrow itself was awful. Instead of letting the flavours of the marrow rise, there was so much acid introduced on this dish (not listed as an ingredient in the menu as the only thing they claimed on it was “togarashi”) that just destroyed it. Either it was a kitchen F-up or they had inferior quality stuff they’re trying to mask.

Either way very not pleased about this dish. Could have been so good, but done so badly. I’m starting to get why this place is empty…

My mood soured as my distracted but pushy server came back and asked how it was, I mentioned not that great and he basically formulaically mumbled “that’s great” and walked away. This FoH is a mess too…

Eventually I got his attention again for more wine before my main arrived. What is it? It’s actually black cod…or at least that’s what they said it is.

Scraping off the burnt semiments I see my fish, but I barely taste it.

Black cod has a very nice, distinct flavour, but this was a terrible preparation. A very oily fish does less well in a rich sauce like nantua, which fought it for palate prominence. An additional own-goal of a problem is that the fish was basically unseasoned, so the natural flavors of this rich fish was wasted and the sauce overwhelmed the fish. This would have been better with a plainer fish like halibut. Again, this dish show both poor planning and poor execution combined into a mess that caused me to lose what’s left of my appetite.

Frankly the best thing this evening was the chunks of cauliflower embedded in this nantua. The mixture of peppers was also far better, but I gave up on this whole dinner.

And this server was starting to annoy me with not listening and just walking away, so screw dessert and an after-dinner drink. When the bill came, it was far higher than a night out in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, etc – even without dessert and after-dinner drink. No wonder this place is empty. I think half this bill is to pay for those awful dive-bombing chandeliers that come down on unsuspecting diners.

Probably the poorest restaurant experience I’ve had since 2019. I got hooked by the name, but I should have been more careful. After all, pseudo-dictator Porfirio Díaz died in exile in France, and Taft came THIRD in his re-election bid in an election fail of all times.

If Lockbox in Lexington a week earlier gave me reason to cheer boutique hotel restaurants, this place just sunk it. Just avoid this place and go get some real food.

Taft-Díaz
Stanton House
209 Stanton Street
El Paso, Texas

Who Needs Good Food When You Got Good PR? (Review: Anju)

1 July 2021

Even with things opening up more, going out is something I’m still not doing much — mostly due to the chaos in my personal life at this point. But I made a rare exception when a good friend who I have not seen for a year and a half invited me to check out hotspot Anju in town.

We had agreed on an early dinner, so I headed out the door immediately after the severe thunderstorm warning — which was very much warranted — passed. I rushed to the nearby Metro station, and jumped on the empty train…the first time I’ve been on Metro since I came home from the airport after my Toronto trip last March. Surreal…

I arrived at Dupont Circle nearly an hour later, as Metro has still not sorted out its bad connection waits. Unlike most people, I enjoy arriving at the deepest station in the system, as I like to walk up the escalator — often to the amusement of other riders. This reminds me of the look I got walking up Arsenalna Metro Station in Kyiv — the deepest operational subway station in the world — one of total incredulity.

I was a little early, so spent a few minutes fighting off mosquitos in front of the restaurant and scanning the posted menu. Soon my friend arrived, and the clock hit 5pm, so we headed in. The space was surprisingly large over 2 floors, and we were led to a table upstairs. The spacing between tables were quite good; I wonder what this place looked like before the pandemic…

Once we were told that the “chef tasting” — which was more of a prix fixe deal since all the items were regular menu items — contained banchan, we went with it. I still find it horrifying that a Korean-centric place would charge for banchan, so against the entire ethos of Korean cuisine and culture…

Nevertheless, it was good to catch up in person now we’re all fully vaccinated (and beyond the fortnight uptake threshold). Not long after, the starter arrived. I had opted for yukhoe — beef tartar.

Quite good, the sauce added a surprisingly good sweet and spicy kick to the beef. I enjoyed it, though little did I realise at the time this was the highlight of the culinary treatment of the night. After a little while, they presented the banchan, and my heart sank…

They brought out three flimsy dishes for the two of us… The kimchee was so absolutely boring they may as well brought out plain cabbage. And the lotus root was so sticky sweet it really would have complemented poorly for pretty much any dish they can bring out. Sigh…

People always say that you can judge a Korean kitchen by the banchan, and shit, if that’s the case, this is quite a fail. They don’t complement the food, they look like they received even less treatment than a side dish at a bad BBQ joint. And three tiny dishes for 2 people doing their “tasting” menu? This really shows both a lack of understanding of Korean cuisine and respect for their customers taking up their misnamed “tasting” menu. Sorry to sound so tough here, but it’s really deflating after this presentation.

Then the second course arrived, the mandoo. I prefer my mandoo steamed rather than fried, but that’s personal. These were quite ordinary, to be honest. But what saddened me was that the kimchee in these mandoo tasted better than the sad specimen from the banchan set. Mediocre, which is a hell of an indictment for a restaurant operated by the same people that opened the quite excellent Mandu nearby, where I enjoyed the food during several different occasions.

And of course, the server forgot my wine, and it was a good 10 minutes before it showed up…

Oh well, I had all but lost hope in the food, but the company was excellent — which was the point of this evening anyway. As we continued to chat, our main courses arrived — the battered branzino.

Sigh… Despite we both ordering the same dish and brought out at the same time, we seemed to have somewhat different reaction to our dishes. My friend said his fish was okay, mine was pretty poorly cooked. At points it tasted like sawdust, or worse, baccalà that was not hydrated correctly. The sauce was insurance I didn’t choke on the fish, thank goodness.

And of course the vegetables under the fish were a mess; supposed to be asparagus and broccolini. Mine was all asparagus…but at least mine did not have a gigantic broccolini stem that took my friend some considerable effort to cut with a dull spoon. I know there’s a shortage of experienced line cooks right now, but isn’t it common sense to not give us different vegetables when both are listed as ingredients?

Usually I bemoan when the savouries end on a night of dining, but this evening I’m glad it’s done. Soon the desserts showed up, and mine was called “rako coffee bingsoo” on the menu…

Again, meh. The ice cream was good on a warm day, but a combination of cookie and mochi made this like a “throw everything into the bowl” concept as it’s a texture nightmare. Mochi takes time to chew with the ice cream liquifying at an incongruent pace. Nothing surprises me anymore on how PR can spin a poor experience…

What added to an unpleasant night was that before we had a chance to ask for a coffee or anything, the server dropped the bill off. Now even if you need the table back by 7pm — and we finished our desserts at least 15 minutes before then — this was a rude way to do it. In my old place we would never do this to our valued customers. This “pay and get out” approach shows massive disrespect to customers, and I don’t care how popular you are it’s against what hospitality means. This is the hospitality industry, after all.

Sigh. Another great reminder why, despite eating out so much all over the world, I do NOT eat out back home in DC. The scene sucks. Overhyped, where PR rules the roost.

And it says plenty when the bio page of the restaurant lists the PR rep. Says plenty.

What saddens me is that genuinely good restaurants without the same PR resources suffer as these places are constantly packed and people who buy into rhetoric rather than reality. The service was questionable. The menu was questionable. The cooking was questionable. If it wasn’t for the good convo, this would have been a questionable night to leave the house.

We parted, speaking little about the food — a sign that it didn’t sit too well with either of us. We are both proponents of fresh ingredients and ingredient-driven cuisine (rather than chef-driven…or too often chef-contrived, or chef-manipulated), so tonight’s culinary experience fell face flat, especially for me.

With an impending storm, we parted and I rushed back to the Metro and took another hour to get home — thanks again to a long wait for a change, the bane of the DC Metro system. I don’t know how many years of my life I’ve lost in stations like Rosslyn or Metro Center just waiting to change trains… Lucky I got home then, as another even uglier severe thunderstorm warning just screamed over our phones… That scream could have been my internal one over this dining fail at Anju, to be honest…

Anju
1805 18th Street NW
Washington, DC

* I learned later a tornado touched down a few blocks from where I used to live in Arlington, yikes.

A “WTF Happened to This Place” Roadtrip Part 1 – Review #2: Juniper

23 September 2019

I flew to Oklahoma City to begin what could be the last big roadtrip for a long time. First stop, Tulsa. I’ve not been back in Oklahoma’s second city since 2015, when I had a surprisingly good dinner at Juniper. As I had to pass through the area anyway, I decided to make Tulsa my first overnight stop.

I arrived at Juniper on a quiet Monday evening and was led to my table. A friendly server brought over my menus and soon my cocktail, a rather delicious and refreshing tipple with a touch of spice that made it even more enjoyable. Then a wee amuse…

A nice little nibble with goat cheese and poppy seeds. A good preview for what would be my opening course, the beet and goat cheese salad…

Huh? This is it? I had to ask where the goat cheese was, and was told by the same server that it was the “smear” below everything. Huh? This is absolutely mis-labelling and mis-selling. Frankly there was more goat cheese on the amuse than this dish! Ridiculous. And to make it even worse? The arugula quality was dreadful, worse than even supermarket stuff. Ugh… Abandoned…

I was now worried about my second as the pork loin special was very much upsold by my server, who said it was the best thing on the menu — and talked me out of the duck, which was so good last time I was here. I got more worried when an adjacent table asked her for recommendations and she listed 3 things and AVOIDED the thing she recommended me. WTF.

And now I understand. This was a brick. Overcooked, poor cut. Half of it was dried out, overcooked; the other parts that were cooked to a better temperature had no flavour. The rest of it was a mess. As a big fan of okra, these were extremely sad.

The FoH manager offered to take the salad off but I said no, as I had eaten it. And of course they had not taken the initiative to take a glass of wine off or something else, they just shrugged it off. I settled up and got the heck out of there.

Sadly, another of the “what the fuck has happened to this place” stories I’m having all over the country. Is it just staffing issues everywhere? The kitchen produced a stinker this evening, but the FoH was guilty of some pretty annoying practices that turns me off even more from eating out.

All my previous recommendations of this place is vehemently withdrawn at this point. Just avoid this mess.

Juniper
324 East 3rd Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma

WTF Happened to This Place… (Review #2: Yono’s)

1 August 2019

I headed out of my old hometown of Ithaca early in the morning, thinking back fondly over the dinner at The Heights the previous night but not at the dodgy motel I stayed in…my neck was killing me… I pushed north, slowed by some truck traffic, before I rolled into Oswego. What was supposed to be a half-hour stop turned into nearly 4 hours as I ended up playing pseudo-therapist to an exaspirated cemetery sexton…yeah, only Mel could be in such situations…

I was running late as I headed out east. I had to make a quick stop in Cooperstown, not to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame (where I’ve been back when baseball made sense in the early 1990s when I was still living in Ithaca) before I headed towards Albany. I managed a bit of a hike at the rather nicely unkempt (and perhaps aptly-named) Albany Rural Cemetery, chugging through waist-high grass in the hot sun for about 90 minutes before I had to run to prevent being locked behind the closing gates…

I was knackered, and hungry as I didn’t eat due to that unplanned lengthy pause in Oswego. I returned to the excellent Hampton Inn Downtown in Albany, perhaps one of the best properties in the chain’s portfolio. The main reason for staying there is my dinner destination is downstairs — Yono’s. I had a pretty good dinner last time I was here 5 years ago, and I purposely ensured one of my stops on this trip is Albany so I can enjoy the fine foods here again.

As I was planning this trip very hastily (it was done in 36 hours), I did notice that on the Instagram feed for Yono’s they kept mentioning they were looking for kitchen staff — including a sous chef. That doesn’t bode well, as perhaps the well-known restaurant was having as much problems as so many others around the country in the inability to find/retain kitchen staff. I hope that doesn’t affect the output.

When I arrived at 8pm or so the place was…nearly abandoned. That was very worrisome. I know it’s on the late site and the state legislature is out of session, but still… There was only 1 other table occupied, and they were on the tail end of their meal. I was led to a banquette and I relaxed.

I looked over the menu and their grand tasting looked good, although perhaps a touch dated. I went with it and the pairing, as I was hungry and didn’t want to think. They mentioned the amuse may take a little while, but I was okay with it.

Well, that didn’t take as long as they said, as it’s already here…

Tempura asparagus. Not bad, a tad salty, but not bad. Then the sommelier poured a glass of Spanish bubbly before the first proper course arrived. When it did, I blinked a few times…

This was supposed to be scallops…I guess the mangled mess beneath the radish is it. Rather skimpy, and when you slice it so thin you lose the sweetness factor. Really poor way of serving scallops to be frank. The caviar did nothing for this dish, as all it did was clash with the already-limited sweetness of the scallops. Sorry, but a very poorly-designed dish. Plus the entire dish had a weird aroma about it…

That continued when the second wine was poured, a Riesling from Mosel. I noticed a very chlorinated odour from the glass…and that tells me a lot about not about the dishwashing crew, but about the service crew to not notice something like that. Then the second dish, octopus…

Not bad, worked well with the curry glaze. But half the dish was potatoes, and they were not cooked well. If I wasn’t so hungry I’d not touch those potatoes. So far I’m not impressed, and it’s definitely not of the same quality as during my last visit 5 years ago. A Grüner Veltliner is poured and we have the asparagus soup.

This is again very meh, borderline poor. It’s about a step up from a tin bought at the supermarket. Salty, lukewarm. It’s like the kitchen did not want to admit it was not ready to do this tasting menu and failing to execute to even a respectable degree. Oh, this dinner could be a major mistake…

Then we have some local foie. This was always one of their money dishes here, but today it was a disaster. The top side was not not just charred but burnt to a crisp. What was supposed to be rhubarb compote was obviously hastily prepped, as it was a liquidy mess. What a disastrous dish…

I’ve been rather diplomatic to my server when I’ve made negative comments after each dish, adding that I’m giving them constructive criticism. He can’t openly say it, but I suspect the kitchen staff that remained today are not very equipped to execute this menu. I know there’s a staff shortage, but when you feel the need to trick a customer into a menu they cannot execute instead of admitting that and asking me to do ala carte (or use the always-easy “it’s too late in the evening for the full tasting menu” excuse). If this place was not empty I would have abandoned this dinner already…

Next up was the “suckling pig” and this is a complete misrepresentation of that dish. This is a pork confit. If you want to serve something, use the correct description. When you say “suckling pig” you usually conjure up the picture of lechon or something. This is just pulled pork fried up. It was oily, greasy, and burnt solid to a point of it being not edible. I dug out the edible meat from the centre and abandoned the sides. By the way my server looked he knew what I was thinking, though he told me this was one of their most popular dishes. I’m sorry, not if prepped like this, even if you like pork confit. Unless you like drinking grease.

This has moved from poor to awful, and if it wasn’t for the very generous pours of wine I would have left. Since my room was upstairs there’s no different bar to run to if I abandon the meal, so I carried on…

The next dish was a lamb ribeye. Again, overcooked. If you got good quality lamb, like this certainly was, why do you cook it beyond medium? And worse, the sprouts are burnt. This kitchen is either totally careless or utterly incompetent, not sure which is worse for me at this current assessment as both mean a bad dinner. But thank goodness the cooked savoury items are done.

The cheese course is a saviour, since frankly it’s damn hard for the kitchen to fuck this up. A selection of cheese from nearby Kinderhook (best known as the home town and gravesite of President Martin Van Buren). The honey collected from the hotel rooftop was a nice touch. This was the best item of the dinner BY FAR, and that’s a damning indictment of this kitchen.

I was so sick of this evening, I just wanted my donut holes and get the hell out of here…but nope! They changed the menu (it’s August 1st) and forgot to re-print the menu…it’s actually a pavlova.

Oh I so hate pavlova…I barely touched this mess. It’s a sugary hell, which was mostly abandoned. What a crap ending to a crap evening, one of the worst tasting menus I’ve had in years. If it wasn’t for the relatively good service and generous wine pours, I would have walked out in a heartbeat. This kitchen is ridiculously awful, with nearly every dish poorly executed. That takes a lot of doing, and frankly Chef Yono should be ashamed his name is connected with these terrible dishes.

And you wonder why there was only 1 other table (which was finishing) when I came in. The entire restaurant was empty, perhaps for good reason. My server actually told me they took 20% off the bill. I reckon they realised how shitty the kitchen performed, and this was a way to make amends. Fine, good for them to do this, but frankly they will not entice me back with the gesture.

WTF happened to this place? This kitchen is a clusterfuck, and I don’t care if you are short-staffed — if you cannot execute, then DON’T. Drop the tasting menu until you get enough competent staff. Or shit, Chef Yono should work the line — like other restaurants that have a staff shortage. If you can’t do it, then don’t offer it — and thus destroy the fine reputation you earned over the years.

If there ever was a symbol of a restaurant past its prime and taking advantage of its past reputation, this is it. What a awful evening. Thank goodness the FoH due tried to save the evening, or else it would have gone down as one of the 5 worst nights of fine dining I’ve ever had. Again, WTF happened to this place?

Just avoid this place. Shit, go to Applebee’s instead. It’s not any worse (it can’t be), and it won’t cost an arm and a leg (even with the 20% discount). What a joke.

Yono’s
25 Chapel Street
Albany, New York

PS: I got home 2 days later and the 3-part road-trip is over. Over the 12 days or so, I clocked over 3400 miles (~5500km) through 10 states… Geez, no wonder my back hurts, even with all the stops I made…