Yesterday afternoon, Eventide General Manager Dave Pressley was so excited about his restaurant’s inclusion in Tom Sietsema’s latest Dining Guide that he pasted the Post’s link onto his personal Facebook page.  Someone at the Clarendon restaurant also posted the news on the eatery’s Twitter feed.

There was just one problem: The guide wasn’t supposed to go live yet.

“[T]he page listing my 50 favorites went online, inadvertently, and was taken down when it was brought to our attention,” Sietsema e-mails Y&H this afternoon. The Post food critic didn’t know how long the guide was live.

That wasn’t the only hiccup, either. The guide wasn’t complete yet.

Read More “Sietsema’s 2009 Dining Guide Makes Premature Appearance on Web” »

Here at Y&H Central, we’ve received plenty of static about noisy restaurants from readers and even more readers. But so far the hospitality industry has been quiet on the subject.

Until this morning, when I got a note via facebook from the general manager at Eventide, a top 50 performer in this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. Dave Pressley has plenty to say on the subject (some of it self-serving, but hey, can you blame the guy?). He gave me permission to rerun it here:

Read More “Eventide’s General Manager on Noisy Restaurants” »

A meaty homage to Michel Richard?

One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return.

Unlike some fine-dining restaurants that aim for the conspicuous-consumption set, Eventide has carved out a different niche for itself: It’s Arlington’s eccentric foodie destination. Eventide combines Komi’s OCD-like attention to detail with the chic intensity of the Source’s downstairs lounge. What’s more, chef Miles Vaden strikes me as a toque who will never be satisfied with his work. His menu reads (and tastes) like a man who pushes things about as far as you can in the typically conservative Clarendon dining scene. His bison carpaccio already assumes an air of Michel Richard; like a red-meat version of Richard’s famous “Mosaic,” Vaden plates thin circles of crimson-bright bison meat on a square of white china so that the dish looks like some monochromatic Pop-Art piece. The appetizer’s flavors and textures, however, are altogether original—the crunch of citrus-marinated jicama, the bite of ancho-chocolate mole, the salty umami of Parmesan, the plodding meatiness of the bison. While not as jaw-dropping as the carpaccio, other dishes on Vaden’s menu display enough invention and technique to justify any wild-eyed optimism you may have about this restaurant. Hell, even the upstairs dining room at Eventide, a former meeting hall for the Odd Fellows fraternal organization, strikes an odd, engaging tone. The ceiling is high, and the walls have an exposed, terra-cotta austerity about them. The long elegant drapes and the intimidating emptiness all around you—above your head and between the widely spaced tables—complete the image: You feel like you’re dining in some cool medieval castle.

Eventide, 3165 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, (703) 276-3165

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

I know that others have previously mentioned Travel + Leisure’s list of the 50 best new restaurants in America, but I finally got a chance to review the magazine’s related slideshow. I dutifully clicked on one slide after another after another, trying to discover which cities outperformed D.C. for these 50 coveted spots. Our metro area earned exactly one nod, for Founding Farmers.

Here’s the city-by-city breakdown of the other 49 spots:

• Chicago: Four restaurants
• New York City: Nine
• San Francisco: Eight
• Houston: Four
• Seattle: Seven

Read More “A Break Down of Travel + Leisure’s 50 Best New U.S. Restaurants” »

Those with a good set of wheels and an iron stomach can hit not one, not two, but four food festivals this weekend. So why bother trying to sample them all? Well, because in one sweet weekend, you can get a fine overview of the area’s eats.

• The Taste of Wheaton on Sunday is a great opportunity to sample some of the best ethnic eats in the D.C. region. This year, the festival will not only feature bites from a few of Y&H’s favorite restaurants — like Nava Thai and Max’s Kosher Cafe — but also an Ethnic Food and Wine Tasting Pavilion boasting dishes from Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Carla Hall, the near-miss Top Chef whose catering company is located in Wheaton, will also be on hand for the event.
• That same day, you can also wander over to Taste of Arlington. While the city doesn’t have a culinary identity as distinctive as Wheaton’s, Arlington has enjoyed a higher profile lately, thanks to such additions as Liberty Tavern and Eventide, which have gone a long way to rinsing out the chalky aftertaste of those big-box chain restaurants that dominate Clarendon. Sadly, Eventide doesn’t look to be a player in this year’s event, but there are plenty of other tasty options, including Jackson’s Roasting and Carving Co., Yaku, Cafe Pizzaiolo, and Me Jana.

More festival news after the jump.

Read More “Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Appetites. It’s a Food Festival Weekend.” »

Thanks to the Almighty Power known as Google, several oldies-but-goodies rose to the top of the hit parade this week. Of course, even the oldies took a backseat to a Power Larger Than Google: Old Ebbitt Grill. This week’s faves, according to you, Y&H’s readers:

1. You’ll Never Guess the No. 6 Restaurant in America in Sales
2. An Israeli Candy Bar for People Who Want Chocolate With a Pop
3. Granville’s Teddy Folkman to Compete on ‘Next Food Network Star’
4. Andy Shallal’s Eatonville to Symbolically Reunite Hughes and Hurston
5. Best of D.C.: A Confession About Best New Restaurant

The Best of D.C. issue dominated readers’ attention this week on Young & Hungry, including my mea culpa about Best New Restaurant. It’s nice to see that teeth-gnashing confessionals haven’t lost their power to attract attention.

1. Best of D.C.: A Confession About Best New Restaurant
2. Best of D.C.: Which New Restaurant Deserves Top Honors?
3. Things Just Not Flowing at H Street Country Club
4. Best of D.C. Food & Drink Now Online
5. Bourdain: Recession Will Cause An ‘Apocalyptic Shakeout’ of Nation’s Restaurants

Following my mea culpa yesterday about this year’s Best New Restaurant pick, the indefatigable Don Rockwell hopped into his car and headed to Eventide to form his own opinion about the upstart Clarendon operation. He walked away disappointed, but perhaps not for the reasons you might think.

Rockwell explains on his eponymous board:

Read More “Rockwell on Eventide: Don’t Go to the Lounge and Expect a Dining Room Experience” »

Y&H will skip the tears and gnashing of teeth and get right to the confession: If the Best of D.C. issue would have been released next week, I would have selected another place as Best New Restaurant. Unfortunately, I dined at Eventide too late for deadline.

Make no mistake, Inox is deserving of the crown, if based mostly on ambition and its sheer willingness to stretch your imagination and palate as a diner. But for all their originality, chefs Jon Mathieson and Jonathan Krinn are still searching for cohesive flavor combinations to match their creativity. Right now, Eventide toque Miles Vaden is nailing more of his dishes than the dynamic duo over at Inox.

Read More “Best of D.C.: A Confession About Best New Restaurant” »

The editors (aka, the Meat Grinders) are busy putting the final touches on this year’s Best of D.C. issue, even though all the picks have already been made, including a large number in the Food & Drink section. Personally, if you ask me, too much emphasis is placed on the Best Restaurant category.

Seriously, do any of you expect to be surprised by the winner of that category? Far more interesting to me is the Best New Restaurant pick. Despite the crappy economy, our market saw a wealth of new eateries open in the past year. Below the jump is a list of the restaurants under consideration for the honor. Which one do you think deserves top billing?

Read More “Best of D.C.: Which New Restaurant Deserves Top Honors?” »