Last year, we celebrated the end of 2012 by flying to Vienna, watching Die Fledermaus on New Year’s Eve at the Wiener Staatsoper, and eating lots of goulash, Wiener Schnitzel, and apple strudel mit schlag. Our plans to say farewell to 2013 were much less ambitious, and this time didn’t require passports.

Our favorite local restaurant, Bryan Voltaggio’s Range, was turning itself that night into a supper club at which you could buy a table from 9:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m., plus they were importing the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn for entertainment.

This was their announced menu.

As we were to learn on New Year’s Eve itself, there were other dishes not revealed in advance.

We wrangled three other couples to join us, rented a hotel room at the Embassy Suites which shares the Chevy Chase Pavilion location with Range, and looked forward to a fun night … which as it turned out, marked more than just the change of one year to the next, but also ended up demarcating a major change in my life after more than thirteen years.

And our expectations were fulfilled. It was a fun night. See? (more…)

So last night, when we realized we’d be cruising through Frederick, Maryland at around 8:00 p.m. without having had a chance to eat dinner first, we realized—hey, this is finally our chance to eat off Family Meal‘s dinner menu!

Irene and I have had many brunches and lunches there, starting last July right after they opened. But for a variety of reasons, dinner remained elusive. And so, as we neared Frederick on our way home from a day down county, we thought—gotta be Family Meal!

Turkey pot pie fritters

We’d had chicken pot pie fritters during our second lunch at Family Meal, but never the turkey ones. Glad I finally got to pop a few of these in my mouth. Best delivery method for pot pie filling ever. Better even than pot pies themselves! (more…)

I’ve been to (and loved) all of Chef Bryan Voltaggio’s restaurants—Volt for high-end cuisine, Family Meal for quality comfort food, Lunchbox for sandwiches, and his newest restaurant, Range, for, well, everything—so I enjoyed watching him compete in the latest season of Top Chef Masters. And was proud that a local chef (well, somewhat local) had survived all the way to the finale.

Which meant that when I found out that there was going to be a viewing party of that final episode at 10:00 p.m. last Wednesday out on the Volt patio, I knew Irene and I would have to be there. And since we were going to be traveling all the way over to Frederick, why, dinner was a must! So I made an 8:00 p.m. reservation in order to have plenty of time for a meal before the screening. (more…)

Two months ago, Irene and I were lucky enough to be part of the initial seating at Range on the first of its pre-opening preview nights, which surprisingly resulted in me being interviewed by the foodie site Eater about the experience. Saturday night, we headed back to the Chevy Chase Pavilion with two other couples to see how Bryan Voltaggio’s newest enterprise was coming along … and to try a few of the dishes even we didn’t have room for the first time around.

We hadn’t intended to repeat ourselves, but there were a couple of dishes so good that eating at Range and not ordering them would rank as some sort of sin. So we once more ordered the cornbread with bacon marmalade, as well as the Brussels sprouts fried in bacon. (Are you noticing the bacony theme here?) The rich, smoky spread contrasted well with the light cornbread, and those Brussels sprouts … man! Never before have vegetables seemed as enticing as candy. Which is why we went through two orders.

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As a result of my Saturday night dinner at Range, Bryan Voltaggio’s new restaurant, I was interviewed yesterday by Amy McKeever of Eater about what that first pre-opening preview night was like from the perspective of a customer. Since she’d spent the day and night following the staff around, she needed some input on how it all seemed on the other side of the tables.

Her article was published late this afternoon, and reading it not only brought the meal back to life, it also made me want to get back there again soon so I can order the beef shin!

Irene and I can be seen as a teeny, tiny couple through Range’s long curved glass exterior in one of Amy’s many photos. Can you spot us below (after clicking makes it a little bit bigger, of course)?

See us?

If you look toward the right side of the photo and can find two guys standing side by side, that’s Irene forward of and directly between them, and I’m seated to her right/your left. Our dining companions, who were across from us, are unfortunately obscured by another couple closer to the camera.

Oh, and one last thing—get yourself to Range! But leave some of that beef shin for me, OK?

There isn’t much I’d wake up early for on Black Friday. In fact, except for the chance to experience what I experienced last night, I can’t recall ever bothering before.

But Bryan Voltaggio, whose Frederick restaurants Volt, Family Meal, and Lunchbox I’d eaten at and loved before, was opening a new D.C. restaurant, Range. He’d sent out an email to his customers offering a chance to take part in a pre-opening preview dinner, and I wanted in. So there I was, sitting at my computer before 5:00 a.m. on Black Friday, hitting refresh, refresh, refresh until I scored a 5:30 p.m. reservation for four on the first of three preview nights.

After studying Range’s awesome menu, and realizing I wanted to try a far greater variety of dishes than would be possible during a normal dinner, I had a plan—I’d bring along a cooler, order way too much food, practice restraint, and treat the meal as best as I could as a tasting menu, waving away half-eaten dishes and creating tons of leftovers. Which, amazingly, I managed to do, thanks in part to one of the friends who’d joined us, who reminded me now and again of how we’d promised to pace ourselves.

And so, last night at 5:30, Irene and I found ourselves happily seated at a table at Range, looking forward to the wonders chef Bryan Voltaggio’s crew was going to prepare for us.

Our server explained that though the restaurant would be able to deal with 300 customers at full capacity, the first of the preview nights would only serve 130 as the crew got up to speed. We had no problem with being guinea pigs, and because of this found whatever slips in the level of service that occurred (most of which will go unmentioned, because it just wouldn’t be fair) to be endearing rather than troublesome.

And since the food was amazing, everything I hoped it would be, causing quite a few moans that it’s perhaps best one only utters when among friends, I had no problem with being part of helping the crew figure out how to operate in this new environment. In fact, I enjoyed watching the learning process. (more…)

As Carol Ross Joynt wrote in The Washingtonian this morning, “The opening of a new restaurant is like the opening of a Broadway show.” And as those of you who’ve been following my posts on Bryan Voltaggio’s soon-to-open restaurant Range already know, I’m as excited about having nabbed reservations for the first of its pre-opening preview nights as I would be about scoring tickets to the opening night of a new play.

Maybe even more so.

Which is why, with that dinner only five days away, and having already seen the dinner menu, I’ve been wondering—what about dessert? (more…)

I like checking out restaurants when they’re still all shiny and new, which is why I made sure to get into both Momofuku Shoto and Cafe Boulud during my recent trip to Toronto. It’s also why I woke up before dawn on Black Friday to get reservations for the first preview night of Bryan Voltaggio’s new restaurant Range.

Yesterday, a bunch of D.C.-area food bloggers were given a look at what Range would offer, and their various tweets, Instagram pics and write-ups made me extremely jealous I was not among them. But the good news is—we now have a look at what Range will offer when it opens, because the Washington Post shared the menu this afternoon.

Have a look!

I’ll probably order the whole rabbit, hunter style when I dine there in 11 days.

Or the rotisserie lamb neck.

Or the pork cheeks.

Or perhaps the veal sweetbreads.

Or maybe … just maybe … I’ll order them all, and make sure I have a cooler along to carry home a ton of leftovers!

I woke up pre-dawn on Black Friday—the only time I’ve ever done such a thing—in order to snag a table to the first of three preview nights for Bryan Voltaggio’s new restaurant, Range.

Since then, the chef and the restaurant have been tweeting tantalizing photos—as if I could possibly be more stoked for that first meal! (I think I may actually be part of the first preview night’s first seating.)

In case you’re as excited as I am—or if you’re not, and need a little goosing to get you excited—check out these pics that have been shared over the last few days.

Delivery of the first bag of oysters

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I’ve never woken up early to take part in Black Friday before. But this year, for the first time ever, I chose to. Why? It had nothing to do with getting a deal on a mammoth flatscreen TV … and everything to do with being among the first to try out the menu at a new restaurant opened by a chef whose other restaurants I love.

Bryan Voltaggio—whose name should be familiar to regular visitors here, as I’ve told you about all three of his current restaurants: Volt, Family Meal, and Lunchbox—is opening a new restaurant. More than a restaurant, actually. An entire foodie complex.

Earlier this week, I received an email (because I’m in the Volt database as a previous customer, I assume) letting me know that Range would be open for a series of limited preview dinners December 15-17, and that reservations would be taken online starting this morning at 5:00 a.m. prior to the opening of general reservations.

So as 5:00 a.m. approached, I was at the Range homepage, hitting refresh, refresh, refresh. Nothing happened at first, and I worried there was a server glitch, but at 5:07, I was able to grab a 5:30 p.m. table for the first preview night. By 5:09, all that was left was a 9:30 slot that first night, but within minutes, the night was gone, and all that remained even on the second of the preview nights were 8:00 and 9:30.

I’m obviously not the only one intensely interested in what Bryan Voltaggio has in store for us! Check back in a few weeks, when I’ll know exactly what he’s doing.