All or nothing

This isn't a news site, but when something like this comes out, it has to be posted. The Washington Post's Reliable Source column reports that Michel Richard's Citronelle was closed for two days late last week after D.C.'s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration ordered the critically acclaimed and always praised restaurant to stop serving booze. Facing the prospect of serving food without accompanying wines, Chef Richard closed the restaurant down until Saturday when their liquor license was renewed.



The column states that the combined 240 - 260 people that had reservations over those two nights were sent to friendly restaurants such as Restaurant Eve and Marcel's. Over those two nights Citronelle lost an estimated $30,000 in revenue!

Shame on the ownership of the Latham Hotel for allowing this to happen; you simply don't allow the best restaurant in Washington DC, and perhaps the Mid-Atlantic to go to black for two days because someone didn't file paperwork.

I think that Chef Richard did the right thing; he would be short changing his patrons if he didn't have wine to pair with his food, and at $150-$200 per person, that's a steep cost to pay not to have the full experience.

I hope that the folks at the Latham Hotel and other establishments around the city learn from this, and can avoid this situation in the future.