Countdown to Westend Bistro
It’s almost here. The opening that all the foodies in town have been waiting for. The one that all the critics are getting more than a little excited about. The chef that makes all the ladies swoon with his French accent. Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert at the Ritz-Carlton on Thursday, November 8.
Menus have been posted to their web site leaving many, including Don Rockwell posters, mystified. Rather than serving the more complex seafood dishes that are common at Ripert’s Le Bernardin, the menu has been compared to chain restaurants like Ruby Tuesday or TGIFriday’s.
But perhaps Ripert is being strategic in his first expansion. Rather than trying to implement a complicated menu that may not succeed without him in the kitchen, he is playing it safe and bringing out some of the classics. Just because they are classics, doesn’t mean they won’t be good.
So if you happen to get a seat at this sure to be hoppin’ hot spot, go in with an open mind. Although he may want to work on his beer list.
Paper Food Fight?
A little storm is a-brewin amongst some of the print critics in this town. Tim Carman started by posting his nomination for the Pannies, a series of the worst D.C. food writing. Amongst them was Washingtonian critic Todd Kliman.
When a chogger asked about Kliman’s nomination on his chog, he implied that Carman was “stirring the pot” and pointed out a number of, what he considered to be, inaccuracies in the reporting, and also made some retorts in return.
Carman responded to Kliman’s smackdown–his term–by refuting the claims against him.
Will Kliman come back with his own remarks? Will we see “Don’t Believe the City Paper” bumper stickers around town? With all the similarity between their names, are you confused as I am?
Editor’s Note: We’ve been handed a “Pannie” from Mr. Carman as well (with one full lump more than Mr. Kliman!). We heart it, though, because we’re a blog and we love to hear comments that aren’t “THIS IZ TEH GHEYEST POST EVAR!!!111!” We here at DCist are also loath to wade into this little circle jerk, so we’ll just watch from here.
Photo courtesy of Oblivious Dude
