Stay in Touch!

How Ambarrasing ?!?! Sad (Hey, life's too short if you can't poke fun at yourself, right?)

Ok, now I know why you aren’t supposed to stay up all night, hopped up on coffee and Moon Pies...because then you spell the same word differently in the same blog post?! Sorry, due to a rousting all night “Kitchen Nightmares” session and a familiar habit of multitasking, I neglected to re-read my post about the Mali AMBASSADOR becoming our new friend. (Geez Dad, thanks for reading and stuff ) I mean, I did get it right in the body of the post, doesn’t that count for something?

I really am fairly adept at writing, most of the time. I just get excited, ok??

Thanks folks, keep those cards and letters coming, email me at
cheftony@visionsbethesda.com

Chef Tony


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"Oh for BEEEP Sake?!" says Chef Ramsay

So I’m up at 5 am watching Gordon Ramsay on Hulu (www.hulu.com) and I thought why not expose this to our readers? I’d like to start sharing great Chef related stuff, and start back at writing more articles and snippets on food and the restaurant culture.

Take care, time for bed! (Right after some very early, daybreak eggs...yumm!

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Welcome Mali Ambassador!

It took me a while to post this up (sorry Iddi Happy) but here is a very honorable guest along with his wife and the two of us. Presenting the Mali Ambassador to the United States M. Abdoulaye Diop and his wife Mme Diop. The Ambassador and his entourage have been in several times to visit with us and we are very pleased and honored to have them in our establishment. We are extremely happy to have gotten to know him and welcome them to the restaurant whenever they are available!
Ambassador, his wife, and us!IMGP0068
Thanks for reading, and welcome to all our new clients who have been discovering us and enjoying our place! We have seen some fantastic new exposure in the last few weeks, and we’re thrilled to be making all sorts of new friends.

Take care, Chef Tony & Chef Iddi
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Premier Visions Podcast...Here's the Intro!

Hello and I hope you had a fantastic 4th of July! (also I hope no one blew off a finger, or had to subdue Uncle Willy when he drank too much Happy )

Here you’ll find the first PODCAST we are producing, I’m reposting and announcing that coming to the Visions site you’ll be able to listen to our Podcasts right from our site! You can also subscribe directly in iTunes or several other podcatching softwares.

If the term “podcast” might as well be written in Russian to you, HERE is a link to a great video and text to explain what Podcasts are. As well, we’ll have a call in line to our show, that you can ask the Chefs questions, give feedback on the show and get involved. Plan that we will be able to post an episode about every TWO WEEKS, and hope that we can incorporate some great interviews and give some local dining scene information as well.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy, and anytime, send feedback to info@visionsbethesda.com!

Chef Tony
Visions



Visions Podcast - Episode X ! Read More...
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Follow up to our Wine Dinner!

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In case you weren't able to make it over to our wine dinner featuring the fine wines of
Hook & Ladder Vineyards...

I wanted to give you a few highlights, and as well, thank all our guests for attending! From what I heard, people
enjoyed it immensely and seemed interested for the next one.

I've attached a few pictures of the food and I wanted to extend an especially strong THANK YOU to Tal Hagbi (our wine
distributor) and Michael from Hook & Ladder Vineyards who traveled two hours from Pennsylvania to entertain our guests
and inform all of us about his families vineyards and wine making in general.

Thanks for reading, as an FYI, we'll be closed on July 4th to celebrate and give our staff a rest. We'll be open for regular
business on Saturday and Sunday. So in case you don't feel like cooking, stop by and see us and we'd be happy to take
care of you!

Below, enjoy a few pictures, and we hope to see you soon.

Tony Marciante
Chef Proprietor

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Halibut and Sockeye

Just a reminder here that we're starting to get on a regular basis incredible Fresh Alaskan Halibut and Sockeye Salmon from a seafood supplier that was originally a Microbiologist. He has great care as well with watching sustainable seafood selections. We will be moving into as much wild product as possible, please make sure to ask about our offerings next time you're in.

Also, a great thanks for many new guests we have met over the last few weeks, we have seen many of you bringing in friends and neighbors to visit with us and enjoy great food. We truly appreciate the business, and hope you continue to join us. As growing up in the Bethesda area, I know how competitive the restaurant industry is in general, and Bethesda is no exception. Please continue to communicate with us and we will continue to strive for the best, most personal restaurant experience in Bethesda.

Take care, enjoy your Sunday!

Tony

p.s. Our wine dinner is Tuesday,
see details here, and we'd love to have you!
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July 1st Wine Dinner - Hook & Ladder Vineyards

Featuring the Wines of …

Hook n ladder

“A fish swims three times…in water, in sauce, and in wine”
A p p e t i z e r
Rare Marinated Hawaiian Tuna Poke
With Daikon Slaw and Balsamic Reduction

~ Served with 2005 Hook & Ladder “The Tillerman” White ~

S a l a d
Arugula with Carmelized Onion, Figs and Maytag Blue Cheese

~ Served with 2005 Hook & Ladder Chardonnay ~

S o u p
Roasted Tomato & Jalapeno Soup with Basil Oil
and Moms Grilled Cheese Croutons

~ Served with 2005 Hook & Ladder Pinot Noir ~

I n t e r m e z z o

E n t r é e
“Mali Style” Filet Mignon Satay
Crispy Plantains, Cucumber Salad and Herb Cream
Or
Grilled Northwest Halibut
With Soft Polenta, Puttanesca Sauce and Grilled Radicchio

~ Served with 2005 Hook & Ladder Merlot~

D e s s e r t
Chocolate Espresso Bomb

~ Served with 2005 Hook & Ladder “The Tillerman” Red

This menu is offered at $65 per person including All 5 Courses and Wine Paired with Each.

Please call us asap to make reservations, dinner will commence at 7 pm sharp.

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OpenTable is now mobile!

As a member of OpenTable Network, I'd like to inform you that you can now take all the convenience of OpenTable with you
on your mobile device! They have now launched the site and you can
CLICK HERE (this might only make sense when you
click the link on your mobile device like iPhone or Blackberry).

Now for those keeping score, restaurants pay a price to use the system, but we pay much less when you go through our site...
so for anyone who can, GO AHEAD AND BOOKMARK OUR SITE to make your OpenTable reservation through VisionsBethesda.com.
You'll help us to stay profitable, and in the end, the process is pretty much the same.

Take care, I'm enjoying a little peaceful time on my back deck in Frederick, listening to wind chimes next door, and watching my various animals run
around. Did I mention we recently got a new puppy? His name is Muneco (means "doll" in Spanish)...he's a Maltese..
(insert self plugging picture here...)

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New Partnership with Washington Post

So in keeping with trying to be up on the technology side, we are trying a new arrangement with Washington Post. We have begun to promote options on their "Deals & Discounts" page, which includes options to send a text to a number, and receive our promotion of the week!

You can take a look here, please let us know what you think! I'm passing this on to you, our loyal reader, so come in and see us!
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Just for the Halibut!

We have arranged with a specialty fish importer, to bring you new and exciting products..
these are products I have worked with many times in the past...
FRESH ALASKAN HALIBUT, we have a supplier that literally brought in the fish today from the airport.
I have worked for many years in the fish business, and I can recognize the quality here and we are VERY PROUD
TO BRING THIS KIND OF FISH TO YOU! I have enclosed a few choice photos to show you the fish and some of the processing...

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Cutting FiletsIMG_0054


THE final dish here is a Grilled Alaskan Halibut with Citrus Salsa, Dressed Arugula Greens with Pine Nuts and Herbed Rice...
have to say, it sold pretty well here! Stop in and see us, we'll have this dish on our menu for the next few weeks. We are working on
Wild King Salmon (both Reds and Whites) and Soft Shell Crab... my favorite!!


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Beat the Heat...Dad!

As we wind up fully into Summer, we find the streets of Bethesda filled with...
construction vehicles? Yes, all of our streets have been torn up and yes, replaced
with beautiful new pavement. I think with the development of the local areas with
regards to new condos and dwellings going up, we will all start to see more street
walking traffic and more shopping!

We are launching our Brunch 2.0 menu tomorrow, Fathers Day...you can get a copy
on our site
here and make reservations here. We have tried to simplify the selections
and keep the focus on fun food that hopefully set's you up for an easy Summer Sunday.
Any suggestions for items you might like on our menu? Shoot us an email at
info@visionsbethesda.com and we'll certainly take a look!

Take care, enjoy the summer...remember we are hosting our Premier Wine Dinner
on July 1st featuring the wines of Hook & Ladder Vineyards of California. It should be
a great event, and our plan is to host a dinner about every 6 weeks of so...Please
email Tony and we can lock in a spot for you.

Tony & Iddi

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Mothers Day Menu Live!

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Hello all...

We've been loving meeting all our new guests.. and if you haven't signed up for "updates"
please do so using one of the links on the leftor if you can't figure it out, email me at info@visionsbethesda.com
and I'll walk you through it.

We are live tonight with our Mothers Day Brunch menu...also, make sure you know that we'll be open as of May 25th
for Sunday Bruncheach and every Sunday! We'll feature a Bloody Mary bar, creative Mimosas and an ever changing
Brunch Menu. Our plan is to close on Mondays from now ondue to it being our slowest day, and we really want to dedicate
our efforts into building a great Sunday program. Any ideas for a fun special night to have on Sundays? We'll stay open late
if you let us know you'll be there?!

Very much appreciate all the new guests we've been meeting, and we love seeing you bring your friends and loved ones...
Check our MOTHERS DAY MENU HERE and we still have reservations available during dinner on Sunday...click here to
make a reservation on OpenTable or call us at 301.654.3737

THANK YOU, THANK YOU....we'll see you soon!


Chef Tony

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Sorry Again!

scared face jpeg

Hello...

Not sure, but for some reason our feed re-read our posts and you probably just got a flood of emails..

although it's just a few clicks to erase, I KNOW IT'S ANNOYING!

My apologies...I'm making some tweaks to the site, and although unintentional....

I must have tweaked something in the settings..

How about this, I'll buy you a glass of wine the next time you're in!
(Mention my screw up and get some free juice! )


Have a great day/night...and sorry again.

Tony
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What is RSS??

Ok, so maybe I'm underestimating the "tech saavyness" of our readers, but I really want you to get the content that I work hard
to provide...so I've found a fun video to explain what "RSS" is..

Rss provides an easy way to check on new and fresh information from a website, blog, news site, podcast, etc... If you think about
email (something pretty much everyone uses)...I'm sure you use some email program (Outlook, Web based email, etc) you fire it up,
and it tells you when a "new" email has arrived, right? Now what if you never knew, and you had to log into a website with a user name,
password just to see "Did I get a new email lately?" So with your email program, you can easily read and see what's new and old instantly...
make sense?

Watch the video...it's really good (I didn't make it, but I like the simplicity!)




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The Internet and You!

Good morning...

As I sit here on Sunday and enjoy my coffee (with fat free vanilla cream), I'm downloading the latest pictures
from last night at the restaurant...the most important being a beautiful car that was parked in front who dined nearby...

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Now, something neat about this world we live in...

being tech friendly, we had a neat thing happen...someone came in and dined with us on Thursday..

and wrote a blog post (very well written btw) and had a great time with us, and commented about all sorts
of great things, and... the author was very aware of all of our online efforts to drive in business! She saw our
podcasts, twitter account, website etc...I was very happy that my efforts were at least noticed!

Here is the post she wrote...and the neat thing is that within an hour of posting it, my server had forwarded it to me,
and I had commented on her site! I love the internet...it's just amazing.

So, if for any reason you haven't embraced the internet, don't be scared, don't think it's some great beyond, don't
worry that you can't figure it out...just get out there and enjoy. If I can help at all, there is a great show that I'm
actually listening to now called "The Tech Guy" and can be found at
www.leoville.com. I greatly recommend listening
to Leo Laporte to learn more about the great world of Tech. Have fun!

Chef Tony
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Mother's Day Brunch

Please, please, please get out and enjoy the weather!

If what my iPhone says is correct, you'll see 73 degrees today, perfect opportunity to take a walk around downtown, and stop in for lunch or dinner! Happy

Wanted to let you know a few things...

~ We've put out a new dinner menu with some updated pricing geared towards early week diners...working with our vendors, we've done some better
deals and now we can offer some great Seafood at even better pricing. We want to be able to see you on a random Tuesday night as well as a hot
night out on a Friday or Satuday...so
check out our dinner menu and send us your comments!

~ We're about to launch the first episode of our
PODCAST!! What is a podcast you say? It's basically a weekly (or monthly) recorded audio or video segment
that talks about something..it can be about gardening, cooking, rock climbing, politics...anything! Click HERE for my explanation to help you get in and
discover this great FREE world of shows and information! Our show will start by featuring Chef Tony and some current industry happenings, goings on around
Bethesda and surrounding restaurants, food and wine notes and seasonal changes, and maybe a few interviews with wine / food / restaurant people! Look for our
page titled "Our Podcast Show" and there will be links to subscribe (it's free remember) on the page from all the major podcatchers. As always, we welcome
your feedback to
info at visionsbethesda dot com (we write it that way to hold down spammers...just click the blue text).

~ You can get online and make Mother's Day reservations. We'll be open from 11 am until 9 pm and serving a Brunch Menu from 11-4 along with Dinner
favorites all day. Also,
WE'LL BE OPEN EVERY SUNDAY AFTER THAT FOR BRUNCH! our plan is to offer a Bloody Mary Bar and Specialty Mimosas
to please our crowds. Stay tuned for music themes brunches and more! Look for the Mothers Day Menu tab in the next few days as we work out our final menu!

~ Lastly, we'd like to welcome Alice Davis to our team! She is our new KITCHEN APPRENTICE and joined us out of at least a few other competitors to learn the restaurant trade.
Please stop by the window and say hello...she's a real pleasure to work with and will be training in all aspects of the business. She may even be your waiter one day! Happy
It's been a pleasure getting her used to her new world, and she's already coming up with great ideas for the menu and business...we're excited to have her!

Thanks so much for reading, I know the click through links from our emails don't work, there's something wrong somewhere, and we're trying to work with our company
to figure out what we need to do. We'll get it straight very soon....please stay subscribed, we really like to know you're out there listening!

ChefTony
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Love...exciting and new! and Crab too...

Ok, so I could post a fake post here about free crabcakes on Satuday, or something about the fact that we won a million
dollars and will donate Visions to our wonderful bus boy, but I won't play out April fools on any of you.

What I will tell you is that with the beautiful weather we had today (72 degrees was it?)...Spring is officially feeling like it's
here, and we wanted to let you know a few new things on the menu..and a few upcomers...

We've recently added Maryland style crab cakes to the menu, and today we got the call that Softshell Crabs are now available!
We'll be featuring this weekend, assuming supplies are good...also look for Halibut and other great Spring catches on our menu.
If you haven't been in recently, you have to try our Italian Style Trout with Puttanesca sauce... and something else on our dinner menu...


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Don't forget about our Monday and Tuesday Half off nights... ANY BOTTLE (Yes, even Silver Oak) of wine is half price
every Monday and Tuesday night... As Kitty likes to put it "either pay half as much, or drink TWICE as much!" Speaking of
wine, we tried some great wines today from
HOOK & LADDER Wineries and we'll be planning a wine dinner for early May!

Send us an email if you're interested, we'll be doing a 5 course tasting menu, and the WINE MAKER WILL BE ON SITE to
answer any questions and help make the evening a great success! We're taking the first 40 people, and the price will be
announced in the next week. If you're at all interested, please email us asap!

Thanks, best of luck in Spring, hope to see you soon!!

Tony & Iddi
Chef Owners

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Open for Easter!

Hello all!

Just a quick announcement that we are open this Sunday for Easter...
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We'll be doing about 6 Brunch items in addition to a Dinner Menu Selection..

Please help us spread the word to welcome in our first Easter...we'd love to take
your reservation...

Call us or click onto our online reservation
here

Have a great week, and hope to see you soon!

Tony
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Fun little video probably from Benihana?

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Sorry for any multiple feed emails!

Quick post here... as a learning tech geek, I try to keep our feeds in line, and we use two methods to subscribe to updates...
one is through our web design software, one has been feedburner. As I updated our "feed" on feedburner, it automatically
sent out a large number of "back posts" and had one person write me that we were spamming...NOT SO! I do apologize if
we overloaded you with posts, and we're still working out the details, but we really respect your privacy, but we like keeping
in touch with people. Thanks for understanding,and see you soon!

Tony
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