Welcome to Talk to Tom, the dining-advice column that aims to point you toward good meals, steer you from the dross and solve your pressing restaurant queries. Look for a fresh Q&A every Thursday in this space.
Questions and comments can be submitted to TalkToTom@washingtonsun.com. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity.
My husband and I are incredibly fortunate to have a close-knit group of eight friends with whom we’ve been celebrating the holidays since 1997 at local fine dining establishments. For December, we’ve always chosen a trending or classic restaurant. What special spots might you suggest for this year?
What a fun question. I love a planner, and it helps that you shared your December list going back an impressive 29 years. (Recent outings took place at Moon Rabbit, Albi, Bazaar by José Andrés, Fiola Mare and Annabelle — quite different from one another but good to great, in my experience.)
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Of the city’s younger crop of restaurants, consider the Mediterranean-themed Barbouzard on K Street Northwest, starring chef Cedric Maupillier; Occidental near the White House for Stephen Starr’s valentine to retro supper clubs; or Uchi, the hot-hot Japanese import from Austin near the National Geographic Society. (Uchi, you should know, has a lovely private table for eight in the back of the restaurant.)
If you’re inclined to celebrate someplace more established, look into the Dabney, chef Jeremiah Langhorne’s hearth-warmed tribute to the Mid-Atlantic; Fiola, my favorite among Fabio Trabocchi’s collection of Italian restaurants; or the Monocle, launched in 1960 and probably the closest establishment to the Capitol Building with food better than it needs to be given the convenience factor. (Dig the crab cakes there.) Looking at your long list of choice places, some sadly gone, your group has yet to gather in any of the three.
Please let me know where you end up, and how it performed!
What’s the protocol for taking or making calls in restaurants these days?
It’s the same as it’s been since we all started carrying phones on our person. Calls are best conducted away from the dining room table: in the lobby, near — but not in — a restroom, or even outside the establishment. Unless it’s an emergency, calls should also be brief and preceded by an apology from whomever has their phone out: “Excuse me while I take a call.”
It might sound obvious, but calls should be on the lowest volume possible. No one needs to hear an exchange with your babysitter or financial adviser on speaker mode. The call should also be brief, especially if food has been ordered. No one wants to endure cold food because a phone conversation went on too long.
A good host sets the tone at the beginning of a meal, encouraging people to silence their phones and put devices face down or, better yet, out of sight. Because hopefully, people are gathered for conversation, not a one-sided chat.
A lot of small rental options for dining are out of my price range. What’s a moderately priced place for a group of 10 or so in D.C.?
While attending a ramen pop-up in Logan Circle recently, I was introduced to an inviting, second-floor space above the pan-Asian Rice Restaurant and the underground Rice Market, both at 1608 14th St. NW. The setting — Rice Taste Kitchen — is an extension of the food shop and comes with its own kitchen and restroom. Co-owner Sak Pollert says the 800-square-foot venue comfortably seats 20 for a meal and 30 for a stand-up reception. But he’s also hosted smaller events, including a working lunch for eight and cooking classes for 10.
Prices vary by event, and the extent to which Rice Taste Kitchen staff and services are used. Need a chef or cooking instructor? Pollert knows who to call. Want to serve Japanese, Korean or Thai food? A buffet or plated menu can be whipped up by Rice Restaurant. (For a look at what’s possible, check out @ricemarketdc on Instagram.) Depending on what a client wants, the space rents for $500 to $1,000 — a real deal in my book.
Do you have a favorite fast-food meal?
Regular readers know the crisp-golden answer to this one: I have a soft spot for Popeyes (spicy) fried chicken, which I gravitate to on holidays, specifically New Year’s Eve, and whenever I’m celebrating something. Indeed, my colleagues trotted out Popeyes at my farewell party at The Washington Post last year (with champagne instead of my usual Coke to wash back the pleasure).
Much of the appeal of fast food is consistency. Popeyes chicken, which originated in Louisiana in 1972, is reliably crunchy, juicy and peppery (in the case of the spicy version). The fresh-tasting coleslaw and soothing red beans and rice are my picks among the sides, along with the obligatory flaky biscuits — albeit only when they’re warm.
The only other fast food that comes close to that affection is the Filet-O-Fish from McDonald’s, something I indulge in once a year or so.
How was Phoenix? I noticed you were there on social media last week.
True! I had some memorable meals during the four days I was in the country’s fifth-largest city, which I’m happy to share with you.
I got off the plane and immediately Ubered to the cheery Huarachis, whose name is also the Mexican outpost’s signature dish: a sandal-size masa cake, which I ordered decked out with crisp fried pork rinds, pork belly and more. The tacos and tequila drinks are the signature’s equal.
Until this trip, I’d never been to the revered Pizza Bianco led by the James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Bianco. Shame on me for waiting so long for one of the best pies in the country, and at the original location in Heritage Square to boot. A waiter steered me to the thin, crisp, puffy-edged Rosa pie scattered with fresh rosemary, crushed local pistachios and Parmesan: bliss in every wood-fired bite.
My best dinners took place at Valentine, a swank, softly lit dining room where the menu promotes local ingredients in delicious combinations (don’t miss the elote pasta, the pork ribs glazed with sarsaparilla or the cactus-shaped twist on a Fig Newton for dessert) followed by Tratto, an upscale Italian restaurant from Bianco that also relies on Arizona artisans for product.
I’m equally eager to return to the hilltop Wrigley Mansion, built by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in the 1930s and now home to multiple places to eat and drink. There, I settled onto a bar stool at the fetching Geordi’s for a top-notch Caesar salad and loose, truffle-scented risotto — plus a panoramic view of downtown and beyond.
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