Palomar DC Does its Wonky Thing
May 15, 2013
Things can be a bit chunky at the Palomar DC—sometimes hot, sometimes not—just like the political situation in this city. After my last whirlwind stay here, Hotel Manager Stephane Vogel noticed and promised a better stay this time. He delivered. Thanks Steph. Hotels that listen and respond are high on my list. Kimpton is really outstanding at that. (FWIW, as I was typing this entry, Steph dropped in to say hello and chat. Great guy.)
I find myself in civilization between meetings with no desire to fight traffic in and out of the city. But I know DC pretty well since I live 60 miles door to door from the White House. Beltway traffic can suck.
Room 539 beats 438 hands down. More space, much better design, and a glass shower that rocks in the morning with great water pressure. Without further ado…
Bedroom in 539. Nice light-up bedside tables with ample power.
The purple couch. Fit for Prince or maybe Morris Day.
Work console. Faces window which faces a brick wall. Wonky.
The welcome package was set out on a customized placemat map of DC. Very silly and fun. And also wonky. (Hey, am I a “Mr” or a “Dr”? The placemat says both.)
Ye olde welcome package, with not one, but two bottles of Pellegrino. Hit the spot.
The all important glass shower is situated in a really cool bathroom design with a window over the gigantic tub overlooking the bedroom.
Bathroom window could be used for drive in service from the bedroom.
Shower cube through the mirror.
A visit with my brother and Esther to the bar revealed a nice space with a decent bar run by Obi and Joe. There is some trace residual Jacques evidence, but all in all the bar is not quite where it needs to be yet.
Obi is a tiki-influenced barman. We sampled two of his concoctions. The Southern Belle
1.5 oz bourbon (they are stuck with Makers but Blantons would be far better)
muddled mint, lime, and cucumber
a splash of simple syrup
Stir down and serve on a highball on the rocks.
The other drink had a name, but the menu on the net is stale. We’ll call it the DC Stinkbug Tiki
1.5 oz Appleton Rum (I would switch this out for Mt Gay Eclipse)
.5 falernum
.5 lime juice
3 muddled springs of cilantro
Stir down. Serve with a splash of club soda on ice in a tall cup.
All in all, five showerheads for the DC Palomar. They’re not quite ready for the Palomar wars, but they will be soon.
This afternoon is an outing (on quasi business) to the National Gallery to see the Durer exhibit followed by a Cyber War discussion over dinner.
And do I miss United airlines from this trip? Nope.
Palomar, San Francisco, Now With a New Coat of Shininess
August 26, 2014
Last time I was here in San Francisco, the Palomar was being renovated. The renovation is done (in the lobby anyway and in the restaurant/bar) and Dirty Habits has a new patio outside. The new stuff is all shiny.
The week I picked to visit San Francisco is not a good one. The city is filled to the gills with VMWare types who have all of the prices in town through the roof. Even the airport hotels are full and overpriced. I am being seriously overcharged here at the Palomar this time and even the GM Christopher Smith feels guilty about it. [Accounting, if you’re reading this, it’s not my fault!] Ah, capitalism.
I am in 802 again this time, which is a very nice room, though the shower is beginning to get rickety. Sadly, there is no gigantic flower arrangement to greet me. I guess we’ll have to chalk one up to Chicago?! Walter is here though, wondering in his fishy way where the flowers are.
Hi Walter.
Without further ado, a few more 802 pictures.
802 bedland at the Palomar
Bathroomland in 802 at the Palomar
Though this shower is not plastic, it is ready to be nuked and replaced with a glass cube.
I got here way too early today and snuck into the patio at Dirty Habits to work while my room was readied. A couple of hours after getting into 802, a very nice amenity arrived with a note from Sara (who checked me in, thanks Sara) and JP (the invisible)—replete with my favorite sparkling water. Now I have something to rehydrate myself with after I sample a cocktail from Mr. Means.
Sparkling water, fruit, cheese and a nice note.
Anyway, 4.5 showerheads for the SF Palomar (and more for those with a closer read).
Here’s the problem. NPS is way spoiled. Steph in DC? Personal to the max. Love spending time with you. Joe in Boston? This is how it should be done—with an excellent team! Maximizing mind space (which the marketing people approximate with Kimpton Karma). Donation to boat only found on twitter feed? Astounding. Palomar SF? By comparison, some attention to detail missing. Maybe too close to corporate? Maybe too busy a week? Maybe managing to the numbers? Or maybe senior leadership has moved well beyond one property? But we’re staying here now. Anyway enough of that first world problem.
Positives. Dirty Habits barkeep Sarah rocks. Great fun experimenting.
Experiment One:
2 oz pepper rye
1 oz jelinik
.5 oz malort
.5 dry curacao
This one is so close. We were going to try a version with Yellow Chartreuse, but we ran out of jelinik. We also discussed a creme de menthe high note wash.
Experiment Two
1.5 oz banks 5 year
1 oz puerto fino sherry (trying to get Means to Spain apparently)
.75 oz china china
Brian Means, the masterful head barkeep at Dirty Habits is incredibly great. I was lucky enough to get one of his experiments. Wow.
Experiment Three
2 oz Henry McKesson 10yr bourbon
.75 oz byrrh
.75 montenegro
2 dashes reagans orange bitters
This one will go into the book.
And then out to the city. Why not Spruce in SF? Meh. Nice restaurant, but not that great for SF really. Great company. OK food. Cantina is a superb place to host an event, especially if Alexa Weber-Morales is singing. Great sushi in Cupertino at Sushi Kuni (a delightful tiny hole in the wall). Excellent Italian at Perbacco though it is still too noisy in there.
Oh Kimpton Where Art Thou: Palomar Washington DC
February 24, 2013
Steeerike. Straight over the plate, and the Kimpton batter didn’t even notice.
A very last minute trip to DC to do the way early Sunday morning talk show thing (on the MSNBC show Up with Chris Hayes), meant a night in DC. Refactored Saturday completely. Too quickly I guess. (BTW, here is a link to the show segment.)
Room 438 is not at all like room 835. In fact, its not quite up to Kimpton standards in my book.
Bed room. Bed only.
Room layout is the main problem. 438 is a suite made of two long rectangles. The room with the bed fits only the bed. Good thing the TV is flat! The suites two rooms are separated by doors so thin they rattle and clonk in a hollow way and don’t close properly. And there is this massive blank section of the room in the corner. Design feature? Mistake?
What belongs here other than nothing?
But the sad thing is, a plastic shower.
Tiny bathroom with plastic shower.
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No welcome note either.
I guess it is better to plan ahead! We’ll find out next week in San Francisco, won’t we. Three showerheads for this trip to the Palomar DC. Next time I hope somebody is paying more attention.
Hotel Monaco in Old Town Alexandria
September 10, 2014
Trouble in paradise this visit which started out about as chunky as possible—no reservation. I always rely on my travel people to get things squared away (thanks edie!) and they are great. This time I let an outside firm work travel. Yes, I did already know not to do that! When I tried to tack a day on to this trip, everything went south fast.
Having arrived in the nick of time to drop stuff off and head to DC for a business dinner, I was confronted with a problem. No reservation and no available rooms in the hotel. While very courteous, the front desk clerk Damien was ultimately not very helpful at all, and he did not escalate to more senior management. My inner circle Kimpton status did not seem to make much difference either. I was in a bind.
Fortunately, Stephan Vogel (GM at the George) had my back and started an email thread to find me a room on DC including the new GM of the DC Palomar Josh Lustig. (FWIW, Josh just took over from Abe Liao.) While they were solving the problem, I finally got a message back from the people who had messed up the reservation in the first place. They convinced the Monaco to give me a room. So that’s good…
But it was room 315, which if I were you I would avoid. It faces the street and is very noisy in the morning starting around 6:30am. It is also a handicap accessible room with a shower over tub design. Not my style.
Of course, not knowing I was staying the night made it hard for the Monaco to do anything to greet me or personalize my stay. Apparently they don’t monitor the twitter feed very closely. If they did, the problem would have been discovered way before my arrival.
I was told that I can get a different (better) room for the second night. Hopefully that is the case.
Room 315
Bathroom in 315
Shower over tub full of handrails. The curtain blows in the wind.
I rushed off to a fantastic business dinner at Le Diplomate (highly recommended, especially the world class bread). Larry secured us a VIP table. After dinner it was off on a bourbon search, first to bourbon (booked for a private event) and then to Jack Rose (also booked for a private event, but by friends as it turned out). Jack Rose has a fantastic bourbon selection that included Pappy 23, Pappy 20, and two varieties (US and Japanese) of Hirsch 16.
Two kinds of Hirsch 16
When I returned to 315 at midnight, I was greeted with a belated welcome note and a shot or two of bourbon (!!) from Pete and Jess, who turned out to be people from the organization hosting the meeting. Somebody is paying attention, but are any Kimpton people paying attention?! For the record I did have to go find a paper in the morning.
Welcome back to 315 after midnight
After a long day of meetings and presentations I returned briefly to the Monaco and switched to room 503. 503 is an excellent room and I appreciate the move, but strangely nobody mentioned the mixup, the bind, the switch. It’s as if “these are not the droids you’re looking for” applies.
There’s nothing to see here. All is well.
Cheese plate and San Pellegrino. So they do know I am here! Awesome. But no note, so “they” remain unknown.
Welcome to 503. Kimpton Karma.
503 suite is sweet
Lots of light and no noise in the living room
The shower in 503 is fantastic. Great water pressure and plenty of glass-defined space. As usual, there is a huge (unused) tub in this room as well.
No plastic shower in 503
More data from Alexandria, the Landini Brothers restaurant has workaday Italian with a weird but decent wine list and food served by Spanish-speaking waiters. The PX Lounge is so full of itself that though they might make a decent cocktail, it is ultimately skippable. The greeter/waitress/busybody calls herself a “den mother” which pretty much says it all. If you’re not a cub scout, ignore the reviews by foodies with no cocktail clue (sietsema) and go somewhere else. Yes, PX some of us know more about mixing drinks than you do.
Hotel Monaco is a great place to stay. Some more attention to personal service seems to be warranted. A low four showerheads for this visit. I’m sure I will be back and I will make sure to make my own reservation!
Palomar DC a Treat in the City
October 26, 2012
We stayed at the Palomar in Washington once before when Puck was a tiny yellow puppy. The idea was to have a great dinner at Obelisk (highly recommended) and walk next door to crash. We had a great time.
This go ’round I am in the city for a business meeting, which meant even less time to spend at this great property. My loss.
I was upgraded to room 835. The design is very interesting but a little on the cave-like side (dark and dreary). The overcast sky outside fits the bill perfectly. Maybe it is the prevailing mood in the country about Washington?
Great design sensibility, but dark. Even with the curtains open, this room teeters on depressing.
I was afraid nobody knew I was coming this time since I got no email in advance (though my spam filter has been overactive lately, so maybe it is to blame). When I arrived, the hotel was hopping for wine hour and Matt at the front desk seemed just a bit flustered. Relax Matt, it will be OK!
The welcome package was welcome indeed after a terrible institutional lunch at SRI.
Note, wine, cheese, chocolates. What’s not to like?
The bathroom in 835 is superb with a very nice glass shower. As always, I did not try out the gigantic hot tub thing. I’m going to have to work on that.
I forgot my camera again, so cell pictures will have to suffice.
Not plastic.
After an awful group diner at Filomena (don’t bother unless you like shopping mall red sauce), the evening took a turn for the (much) better with a trip out to Passenger to try on some DC mixology for size.
We were served by Lindsay who swears that she is 26. Well constructed drinks for our party (probably the best in DC) included a Corpse Reviver #2, a Nevada (on the rocks in a Collins glass?!), and a hand-concocted but not that creative bourbon beverage with Cynar and Luxardo. Passenger is kind of a dive and it is way way too noisy. Too bad the space doesn’t live up to the mixological excellence.
Anyway, it was a quick trip. The Palomar is a five showerheads place with a DC pall cast over it. The guys moving cars around are great.
Hotel Helix, Washington, DC is a delight
September 14, 2011
Mid-week between Knoxville and Cincinatti involves Baltimore and College Park for some work with academia. In between is a night in Washington, DC at the Hotel Helix. The Helix is a Kimpton property, and you know how I feel about Kimptons. (Rock on Kimpton.)
Things started off on the right foot with some email from Ryan Cimei (Assistant GM), and only got better once I arrived. Friendly staff with personal greetings who had done their homework and even read this silly blog. We approve!
I arrived from Baltimore in my very own car. Roof down on a gorgeous Fall day (or maybe it was the last day of summer?). My room is 919. (Unlike in Las Vegas, this room is actually a suite with multiple rooms and everything. I guess it would be an entire apartment in Las Vegas?)
 All this and pictures of Ken and Barbie on the wall. |
 Television shrine...all lit up (but thankfully off). |
Best thing? A way personal note, some fruit and cheese, and the makings of a Gin Rickey from Kelly.
Gin Rickey fixins. The DC drink of choice. Kinda like go-go and Marion Barry.
The written instructions for a Gin Rickey are:
1.5 oz gin (in this case Beefeater, but I would try Plymouth instead)
1/2 fresh squeezed lime
sparkling water
lime wedge
Mix lime juice and gin in a highball full of ice. Top up with sparkling water and float a lime wedge.
Not a bad drink. Very summery, easy to drink and thus dangerous.
The bathroom is interestingly situated between the bedroom and the living area+hall room. Helix has no glass showers…alas, so we will have to overlook the bathtub shower thing. (I know, I know.)
 Lets all pretend that this shower is not built from a bath tub. |
 Warhol inspired bathroom design. |
The room with the bed is spacious and filled with light. Looking out the corner windows onto Rhode Island is nice.
Bedroom.
My companion and I had a great time at happy hour chatting with fellow guests (and hotel collectors). Then we headed off in the mosquito to a memorable dinner with our friend Bill. Bill is a serious foodie. We went to ps 7’s which was quirky and interesting, but not really worth going out of your way to try.
Though the Hotel Helix has no glass showers, their top notch staff and attention to detail earn a five showerheads rating from me. The Palomar in DC may be the top end of the Kimpton food chain here in the city, but the Helix wins out with sheer attitude.
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