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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]OP here - I am an avid diner, but off the top of my head:

Blue Duck - Very mediocre (used to be better), but always extremely overpriced.

Red Hen - Fine but simpleton. I've been three times (in my neighborhood) and the menu always lacks a sense of adventure.

Rasika - here I will make a NYC comparison. In NYC I would go to Tabla (now closed) which made Rasika seem like a mall franchise.

Le Diplomate - I consider this the number 1 "hype" offender. These dishes wouldn't make it past the hostess stand at Balthazar (which Le Dip is trying way too hard to be).

Founding Farmers - Organic Applebee's.

Del Campo - mediocre from top to bottom.

My takeaways are this:

- Mid and high-end DC establishments are offensively overpriced. Is there a reason for this? 
 - many big production restaurants where food is second to ambience. 
 - DC is big on commoditization, as soon as a restaurant is popular, the immediate reaction is to build another. (Why? this does not happen anywhere else)[/quote]

OP, as other PPs have mentioned, the places you have listed are primarily places people go for expense account outings and not our "most acclaimed restaurants".  You're also heavy on the Italian-French-American cuisines in your list.  DC, like many other cities, excels in types of foods where it has a large immigrant population.

Have you ever tried Ethiopian food?  When I lived in NYC for a decade, I would always try to eat it when I visited DC because it's so good here.  How about Asian foods? Like the other Indian PP, I think Rasika is  fine for some a night out, but there is much better Indian food in the burbs (ex: Woodlands, Mayuri).   Thai X-ing or Little Serow are great for Thai. There's a Laotian restaurant called Thip Khao that was one of Bon Appetit's 50 best restaurants in America.  As others have mentioned, there is excellent Chinese in the burbs (you complain it's mostly chain restaurants, but try closing your Fodor's guide and go somewhere recommended on the Washingtonian Cheap Eats list).

But if  that's all too adventurous for your palate and you want to complain about how mediocre the food is here in DC, go ahead, but please retitle your post "Mediocre European cuisine at expense account restaurants in DMV  "[/quote]

OP here - I get it but I don't see why "expense account" should have anything to do with it. There are "expense account" restaurants in NYC too, but they are kick ass (Perry St., Ai Fiori). These are truly exceptional restaurants and provide for top dining experiences. In my opinion, the restaurants that garner similar notoriety here simply do not live up to many peoples expectations.[/quote]

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