ray's the steaks, 2300 wilson blvd, arlington, va

there's always been a buzz about ray's the steaks. people who've tried ray's either love it or hate it for reasons that mostly boil down to expectations and ambience. what's not to love? here's a cluebird for ya: read reviews before you dine out. not every resto should offer the same old sheet. it's what makes the world go round. i like to embrace these differences.

recently ray's moved down the street from its not-so-attractive stripmall location, allowing owner michael landrum to triple the number of covers he served in a night. bonus for you: the address of the new ray's the steaks is horsepuckey. don't let its wilson blvd address fool you into thinking it's actually on wilson. it's on clarendon blvd. for the love of arlington's 19 starbucks in a 2-mile radius, i give up trying to understand the whole clarendon wilson blvd thing.

so here's how i wind up at ray's a coupla thursdays ago. i bumped in to some friends on the way to the dogpark one afternoon; a coolio fun easygoing couple who used to be my neighbors. they suggested dinner at ray's the steaks. how nice is it that? i haven't been in moons. plus i love having dinner parties with people i don't see very often. keeps life interesting, no? they said they'd arrange everything and text me the deets. which they did. well in advance of the reservation.

well, i didn't have it on my calendar, because my assistant had taken the week off. silly ditzy girl.

kidding. come on, people. i am my assistant and my life is an effing trainwreck.

turns out, i double-booked myself, having scheduled yet another mind-numbing blind date the same night. [cut me some slack before you judge. i'm trying to gather some more material for this lame-ass blog.]

i couldn't postpone the blind date because he was driving [horse and buggy] from amish-country lancaster, pennsylvania. what the? i know, i know. one of these days i'll come across a charming gentleman who lives between 1 and 6 miles from me.

i couldn't cancel dinner with friends and look like a flakasaurus rex. well that and they mentioned something about a hottie single friend joining.

how smart am i? dinner at 6:30; blind date at 8:30.

if you know anything about ray's, besides the fact that it's a well-regarded and reasonably-priced steak house, you know it's a get 'em in getemoutasfastaspossible burn and churn kind of resto. an hour an half for dinner here is totally doable.

most people know that anytime you double-book yourself, things don't go exactly as your pea brain intends. you end up having unforeseen best time of your life at engagement #1 and subsequently visualizing ways to dodge engagement #2.

we'll call that jt's law of double-booking. it has an equal and opposite outcome too, which is when you want to disengage from a boring situation to mosey along to a merrier one.

just as i'm sashaying through the door, i see my friend and favorite dc sommelier, james beard foundation award-winner, mark slater. he recently left michel richard citronelle after 12 years and joined ray's as wine director for all of michael landrum's restos, ray's the steaks, ray's hellburger and ray's the classics. what a doll baby.

and while he's a wine-stud he is not the supercilious sommelier he could be - even though his brain holds a $hit-ton of viniferous information. mark has a legendary talent for discovering fascinating wines under $40. if you see him when you visit ray's, by all means, enlist his assistance in choosing a great bottle. that's what he's there for. for us, he sent us some yummy bubbly followed by a lovely bold malbec for dinner.

so we're seated at the best table in the house - right in the middle of all the action. i should mention here that the fellow with my neighbors is indeed, hot. all caps. not only is he terribly attractive, he's california dude rockstar trendy. and healthy looking. trust me when i tell you we don't have these creatures running rampant in dc. not straight ones anyway.

i don't know why all the people on yelp, donrockwell.com and tripadvisor blah, blah, blah are always talking about the lack of decor at ray's. who gives a frog's fat ass? i find it refreshing that it's minimalistic. it's simple. clean. what if when there's not a bunch of cluttery filling up all possible white space, you actually focus on the food and conversation [and getting the hell out as fast as ray's can get you gone]. ray's is totally family-friendly too btw. there's all sorts of clientele here - and yes, mark confirms that they do indeed serve 300-400 people a night here. standard ops.

even though he talks incessantly, i find the brawny chap next to me really interesting because he's in the process of opening a few restaurants in dc. smart and pretty? and stylish? crap i have a blind date in an hour with a guy from amish country.

it would be really rude of me to call in sick, wouldn't it? even if guy next to me is really shiny and pretty?

back to the food. ray's offers a crazygood deal: 3 courses for $23.95. first course of salad or soup, main course of either the scallops, the top sirloin or the hanger steak and choice of dessert. how oklahoma of them - i love it. i'm totally here for beef. that's what they do. really well.

the lovely mr. slater is reading my appetizer-loving mind and takes charge in sending us a few: the steak tartare "deviled" eggs. i love steak tartare with all my heart, i do. so flippin cute this is, i can barely stand it. i'm stealing this idea. deviled eggs are all the rage now if you haven't heard. you can stuff anything into a boiled egg right? they needed a little more salt. surprise, surprise. he also has the kitchen deliver a demitasse cup of the crab soup. full of flavor and muy delicioso. and, where on earth can you get bacon as an appetizer? here, friends. uber-thick slices of applewood smoked bacon perched atop a sweet tuft of sauerkraut. an order of angry shrimp comes as well, or shrimp diablo - super spicy, i warn you. but i like it. in moments our salads come and minutes after that (remember, they're all business at ray's and they want to fill your seat with someone else's arse as soon as they can) steaks arrive. mine, i went for the hanger steak - slightly tougher than other cuts and not as juicy, but bursting with meatiness. you have your choice of varied sauces and other things like roasted garlic or roquefort to top your steak. i chose a port reduction along with roasted garlic. it's likely i'm not kissing anyone tonight. who doesn't love garlic anyway? i was real happy with my choices.

i look at my watch to discover it's 8 and we haven't ordered dessert. "i've got a blind date at 8:30," i inform mr. pretty.

"what? cancel." is his response. as tempting as this is, i must adhere to my prior commitment but promise to ditch out of blind date if i'm not enjoying amish country. upon my return from powdering my nose and checking my pearly whites, desserts have arrived. i manage to capture a bite of each. do try the key lime pie. it was the winner. the chocolate and white chocolate mousses (meese?) are so-so, though i'm not that much of a mousse girl anyhow. cheesecake was good i think but i really needed more time with it to be sure. tiny peanut butter chocolate petit fours are a perfect touch that come - next to the check of course.

hate to eat and run but hey, it's ray's and if you're not running out they'll probably run you out.

i'll have to reinvestigate mr. pretty another time.

brabo by robert weidmaier, 1600 king street, old town, alexandria

first of all i'm shouting, "bravo!" that someone has finally invested in the revival of old town alexandria. {if you want my thoughts on old town, click on the entry for jackson 20}.



chef robert weidmaier, of dc's brasserie beck and the lovely marcel's, has expanded his repertoire of resto's.



not only has robert weidmaier opened brabo restaurant, named after the roman hero, silvius brabo, just next door is the tasting room and next door to that is the butcher's block, a wine and gourmet shop. all by robert weidmaier. thank you, merci and grazie, chef.



this trio of treats is gorgeous too, from the outside. what a refreshing addition, see i can't say enough. they've opened in connection with the new lorien hotel and spa (a kimpton property - hotel monaco, et al.).



so, frenchy is back in town for three weeks of work. [see cafe du park entry for first dining experience with frenchy]. he happens to arrive with perfect timing for once - i have four days off from cooking and can finally fathom spending four to six hours of speaking loud and broken english (which has been daunting the past two times he's been in town, therefore his company being avoided). silly me.



brabo's on my running path through old town, so i've been frothing at the mouth to see what it's all about since i saw it's opening nearly a month ago. i was actually running one day when chef michel richard himself pulled his car over to tell me he was on his way to lunch there, asking me if i'd been yet [damn, i wished could've scooped michel].



btw, on this side of old town there's plenty of street parking so this is a huge bonus. so frenchy and i meet on the street and i get kissed on both cheeks. we accidentally walked into the tasting room, which by its name gives you the impression this is a chef's tasting spot.



oh no, friends, this is a coooool hangout. small and high-ceiling'ed, bustling with good energy, we're greeted at the door by chic hostesses and chefs welcoming us in. people in there are both attractive and having fun. my kinda place. i didn't realize i was in the wrong spot til i said i had a reservation. one waiter tells me i should've come here instead - it's way cooler. ah, but no, we are on a mission to eat so the kind hostess escorts us just next door to brabo restaurant. how sweet was that of her? that's service we're not used to in these parts, i assure you.



brabo is much bigger than i thought it would be. i had requested a quiet table (online, via opentable.com) due to our communication challenges. we stand at the door waiting to be seated. it's hot in here too. i'm starting to sweat. we must've stood there awkwardly for four minutes before the bartender tells me the hostess stand is behind a huge column in the middle of the room. strike one, i'm thinking.



don't worry though, there are no other strikes against brabo. none, nada.



the front dining area seems much more interesting but i'll have to try that another time as we're led to the rear dining room (for peace and quiet, i assume). i notice it's pretty slow for a thursday night, unfortunately.



our server, katherine/catherine greets us immediately with menus and wine menu. she's very sweet and knowledgeable and fortunately patient - little does she know this night's going to drag on and we're to be the last people outta here and i hope she didn't have an early night planned. because i was hot, i needed a glass of champagne on the double, so i went with charles de fere (at $8 a glass) and it was quite good. date wanted me to order the wine, but because i really wanted white, rather than red i asked him to please choose. they have a lovely and extensive wine list - pages and pages. he chooses Perrin & Fils, les Christins’ 2006 Vacqueyras for $57.



it's a nice menu too. there's not too much to choose from but it offers a good and interesting variety. he was going to order exactly what i had my eye on so i had to rethink. [and of course, i was going to order an entree this time rather than apps only.] date ordered for appetizer the wild mushroom and foie gras ravioli with truffle madeira sauce. it was quite good though the sauce alone has a really strong flavor of black licorice, not my favorite - it didn't seem to be anise, it was really really black licorice-y in flavor. the sauce was perhaps over-reduced too, as it left that weird coating feel in your mouth that only a chef would notice. but, as i said, all together it was nice.



i guess some of you probably don't care about the food. you're wondering how my date, part deux, is going.



well, strangely, the fact that we can't communicate very well is much more enjoyable than it was last time. we're using the dictionary a lot to muddle through but we were laughing and having more fun with it. i think since he showed the confidence to make fun of both how fast i speak and my terrible french accent, i loosened up - it was surprising to see his sense of humor. the waitress was probably laughing her arse off and feeling for me. i really had fun though - i swear.



my appetizer was fantastic. upon the recommendation of katherine, i ordered the duo of shenandoah smoked trout, which i never would've ordered otherwise. beautifully presented, it came with a perfect quenelle of smoked trout mousse atop the best potato blini i've ever had. alongside, another potato blini with a small piece of smoked trout filet and another perfect quenelle of creme fraiche. paired with these a small salad of julienne of granny smith apple (beautiful) and another tiny salad of shaved fennel. nicely done as well, but completely void of salt. those blinis were little pillows from heaven - creamy with an ever-so-tiny bit of crunchiness on the outside {it's like when you make pancakes and put too much oil in the pan, you know that little crust that develops? yummy}.



second course - date ordered the seared turbot with potato gnocchi, baby artichokes and black trumpets. it was gorgeous. it was slightly overcooked for his taste but i thought it was close to perfect. golden brown and the buttery sauce was delicate. i was interested in the skate wing, but on katherine's advice i ordered the grilled lamb tenderloins. they came with a white bean puree and ratatouille (normally to me ratatouille is icky, i thought brabo's was delectable without any pesky skins on the eggplant or peppers). the lamb was cooked perfectly medium rare. i wish i could complain about something. i can't. i really, really can't.



i will mention that there are several former citronelle buddies of mine working there - front of the house. eddie a busboy (i say busboy but he's an asian gentleman of probably 60 years) was working this night. he tells me that a couple of bartenders, an expediter also work there now. it's good none of them is working tonight as i need to really focus on my date.



i think we probably were vip once katherine realized she was waiting on a former citronelle cook and a french pastry chef. not that her service was lacking in any way, nor was the food to this point, but you just get a feel when things are ever-so-subtly ramped up. i'm ok with that.



by this point, flipping through le francaise-anglaise dictionnaire is 2nd nature. there are very, very few things that i smile and nod at, not really understanding. and i hope vice versa.



for dessert, he ordered the triple chocolate mousse terrine. sounds delectable, no? it was just ok. and if it's just ok to me, imagine it being so not worth the calories to a french pastry chef. three types of chocolate in the terrine and lacking in any rich chocolate flavor. pastry chef/date says it's too much sucre. that's sugar for you non-french speaking amigos.



i enjoyed the lemon "tart", which was really more of a lemon mousse served with a sable cookie and a tuile, alongside cilantro gelee - sounds weird but it's good with the lemon. certainly not my favorite dessert of all time but you know, i have to give brabo lots of kudos. i can't wait to go back again.



you know, being an american girl, i tried to pay too. last time was on him, this time, i think should be on me. he wouldn't hear of it. wouldn't even entertain the idea for une minut. tres gentlemanly.



i'm sad to report that the tasting room was closed up for the night at 11:30 (though the website says it's open til 1 am nightly). the boys getting off work told me they do last call whenever the crowd appears to be dying down. i understand. i'll go next time. that place is cooooolio. i promise. let's go out there sometime, friends.



we popped up the street to vermilion, another spot i've been meaning to revisit for some time. i won't get into the details, as we just had a cocktail there (have you ever seen anyone get a peppermint schnapps on the rocks? whatev. it was probably much better than the revolting glass of sparkling i was served).



i kindly gave frenchy a ride home though he wanted me to introduce him to philippe. think about that one for a minute. sly these frenchies, but come on.



bravo to brabo. we've been dying for a spot nearby to call "home." i can't wait to get over to the tasting room so i too can be one of those attractive people having fun with my friends in this sleek new spot.

central michel richard, 1001 pennsylvania avenue nw, dc

my beloved central. it's pronounced "sen 'TRAHL" just so you know. i will try to keep this on the up and up and report as unbiased as possible.

you see, it's hard to do though. having cooked there, i've sampled nearly everything on the menu at one time or another. i could go on and on and on but i need to keep this succinct.

i cooked for michel richard for nearly three years all together, a third of that time at central. i loved central the first time i went - two birthdays ago, after they'd just opened. i love the concept of this restaurant - it's open and airy with great lighting, cool seating no matter where you're placed. (i prefer the bar area.) i love that michel's big jolly face is plastered on the back wall, though if your eyes don't focus properly it just looks like a big red and white abstract painting. i think the wall of glass holding all the glorious bottles of wine is genius. i love the sculpture of stacked oversized plates greeting you at the door. and of course the view of the kitchen is probably best since i know what really goes on in there....watch next time you visit. pay attention to what's going on in there. it's not a picnic; it's not for the weak at heart. it's a crazy show and if you look carefully you'll realize you can see and hear some of the magic of cedric's kitchen. ok i might miss it a little. while all this attention to detail in the decor of central is important in creating an atmosphere, what it comes down to is the food. the food is is the central focus.

back to the food. well here i chose to spend another birthday. i know how much effort goes into each dish. i know that each menu item was designed with love and creativity and care and is executed with pride, technique, attention, top quality and then more love.

this was a birthday i didn't feel like going out at all for (i want to stop getting older for crying out loud, i just want it to stop already!) i told the girls early in the day: game off, i don't want to go out and celebrate. i didn't give them the gory details because they're ridiculous: i didn't feel pretty, didn't feel motivated to go out, didn't have anything to wear, felt fat, i didn't want my girlfriends spending a bunch of money, just got back from a week of drinking and eating in the islands, blah, blah, blah.

i had plenty of reasons not to go out. but then i realized: i am tan in february. i am so going out. so i emailed the girls: game on. i emailed my friend and chef, cedric, to tell him i'm comin' in for my birthday, hoping they'd have key space in the bar area for us.

oh the good karma (barma) we had - and help from bartender friends who tipped us off about who was leaving from the tables in the bar! yippee. there were just 6 of us. nice, manageable group (i don't like it when there's 10-12 of us and you can't talk, it's an unruly number of people to fit places, etc., probably because i'm officially a dinosaur/stick-in-the-mud).

we had at first a too-sweet bottle of sparkling (probably a prosecco or maybe it was the rose, it's a little blurry). we quickly remedied that by drinking it off and ordering a different bottle, i think the gosset brut excellence. i popped over to the kitchen to say hi to my friends and colleagues working. (while i love to work in the kitchen, i think i'm still glad i don't right now, especially because i can enjoy a night like this like it's meant to be enjoyed, stress-free, filled with good food and drinks and my dear friends in what i think is my favorite resto in town.)

the service was embarrassingly good. the waiters and bartenders (some of whom i used to get into arguments with - sorry) were doting on us - we were treated so kindly and like queens for an evening. i certainly felt more special than i had in a while. it was exactly what i needed on my birthday.

what didn't the kitchen send to us? the kitchen sink. in my head i can hear cedric yelling at the cooks - VIP!!!

we had a dozen plump oysters, served with cocktail sauce and red wine vinegar.

next - a mountain of frogs' legs that were simply wonderful. if you think you might not like frogs' legs, you should definitely try them at central. stop turning your nose up at them. they're so delicately perfect yet love a great sauce because they're fried. they have the texture of a white fish but taste more like chicken. they use a sweet and sour and spicy "bbq" sauce here. they're not just for hillbillies. try them, they're yummy.

we also had wonderful steak tartare with french fries. i always think the tartare needs a bit of salt but i love it - it is one of my all-time favorites. it's so rich but i could eat the entire large order myself. i know i could.

oh and make no mistake: the fries are the best in town. hands down. no question. stop questioning it. stop arguing it. stop voting on it in magazines. they are unequivocally the best. i was sad i only got two fries. wait, what the?

we had the salmon tart - probably an underrated appetizer - i don't know. it seemed like we sent out a lot when i worked in the kitchen. please do order it: if i was a regular here, i'd order it every time. i love love love it. crispy, salty, creamy. oh and cedric put some secret stash of caviar all over it. how indulgent. i love caviar. i need caviar. where can i get a good caviar service in town? dc coast? i digress.

i think that was it. i hope i didn't leave anything out. i feel like i'm leaving something out.

well until dessert came. holy mother of sweetness.

banana split - amazing, sinful, should be illegal; it probably is in montgomery county
"kit kat" bar - way better when someone else makes it for you and serves it to you. the hazelnut sauce is to die for. i could just eat that. like soup.
creme brulee - the creamiest most delicate creme brulee texture you could dream of. (needs more vanilla maybe?). i'd like to know what's up with that. it's definitely hard to get that perfect of a texture. it was like pudding. i'm gonna ask how it's done over there. flawless.

oh what a marvelous night it was. there was nothing missing from it. nothing at all. i don't even wish there'd be a cute guy hitting on me. it was a perfect night.