• 23Aug

    How Many BGRgers Can You eat?

    In my inbox.

    -JAY

    ———

    BGR The Burger Joint Seeks Contestants for the National Cheeseburger Slider Eating Championships

    D.C. area winner receives $500 cash prize and the chance to compete in the National finals

    Bethesda, MD- Entries are now being accepted for the BGR National Cheeseburger Slider Eating Championships, hosted on Tuesday, September 18th at their location in Bethesda, MD in honor of National Cheeseburger Day. The winner of the local competition will receive a $500 cash prize as well as the chance to compete in the National finals on National Hamburger Day (Tuesday, May 28th).

    The first-year contest will bring together burger enthusiasts to consume as many cheeseburger sliders as possible within the 10-minute timeframe. The sliders, made of BGR’s award winning blend of prime, dry-aged, all natural, hormone free, grain-fed beef, will be served with a slice of cheddar cheese on miniature potato rolls. The contestant who consumes the most sliders will receive a $500 cash prize as well as the chance to compete against four other regional winners in the National Championships. The second place winner will receive a $250 gift card to BGR, while the third place winner will receive a $100 BGR gift card.

    Those interested in participating should email dcmetrobgrcontest@gmail.com with your name, age, address, and why you want to be in the contest. The competition will be held on National Cheeseburger Day (Tuesday, September 18th) at 12:00 pm at BGR The Burger Joint Bethesda, located at 4827 Fairmont Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814

    Those not interested in personally consuming copious amounts of sliders in 10 minutes are encouraged to attend nonetheless. Just for attending, audience members will be treated with samples from the BGR menu.

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  • 02Aug

    Mad Fox’s Summer Menu Event (Report)

    Mad Fox Brewing Company located in Falls Church, Virginia may be off the beaten path for some, but it is entirely worth the journey for beer lovers and for food lovers alike. If you enjoy beer, you probably already know that in the DC metro area you can find a lot of craft beer – some of it local, much of it fairly delicious. You are also probably aware of the disappointment you face when an otherwise good American craft brewery fails at a foreign beer style. At Mad Fox, that won’t happen and your taste buds will thank you – and what more can you expect from an award-winning brewmaster that graduated from the Master Brewers Program at UC Davis? But wait, there’s more! Mad Fox is an English-style gastro brewpub, and the food is a sophisticated step up from your average bar food. Executive Chef Andrew Dixon hails from the Four Diamond Award-winning Semiahmoo Resort in Blain, Washington with a farm-to-table organic focus in food art tailored to complement the beer offerings – in both quality and taste! What more could you ask for, really? (Besides more beer)

    Mad Fox makes an outstanding Saison. It is a typical honey golden color with just the right amount of earthy funk, peppery honey and clove spice on the roof of the mouth with a balancing lemon and orange citrus and a dry finish. The carbonation is on the milder side of moderate, and is not quite as big as the Saison Dupont (which happens to be the inspiration behind it all.) Madden used a yeast strain from Northern France for the Mad Fox Saison that he says “gets better every time we use it”. To me the Mad Fox Saison is on par with the Bruery Saison de Lente. For discerning Saison / Belgian beer lovers, Mad Fox is worth the pilgrimage.

    Along with the aforementioned Saison, Executive Chef Andrew Dixon paired a mushroom strudel. Yum! A few layers of phyllo dough wrapped around a strong and aromatic mushroom duxelle with goat cheese and portabello chips (taken from the gills of the mushroom) and a Saison reduction was a slow and complex evolution of taste. I thoroughly appreciated that the flavorful mushroom crept up on me mid-palate. The best part? This dish opened up the floral note in the Saison, admittedly my favorite aspect.

    The dish I kept coming back to was the Ahi Carpaccio – a slice of Tataki tuna with a delectable buttery texture, balanced by crispy shiitake, and exciting flavors like basil and orange-ginger. This dish was accompanied by an award-winning unfiltered Kölsch beer. This beer took home the gold at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in 2011. Made with 18% wheat malt and Hersbrucker Hops, it’s a highly drinkable “brewers beer” at 4.4% ABV. It’s a hazy yellow golden color, with a pleasant spring meadow aroma and a light dry finish that cleared the palate for the lovely Ahi Carpaccio. The pairing is the perfect summer combo – light, crisp, and refreshing with a dry complexity. If you don’t make it out for the Saison (or even if you do!) these are a must-try.

    Honorable mentions include the Mad Fox English Summer Ale, also a 2011 GABF award-winning beer. This is a beer style that evolved in the UK in order to give younger beer drinkers there a slightly hoppier lager. It’s almost clear golden in color with a light malt character from the English pale and German Pilsner malts, and is lightly hopped with American Citra hops which gives it a nice tropical fruit note. Also, the flame grilled oysters and the bacon jam burger will blow your mind.

    Stay tuned for special events at Mad Fox for delicious beer and food pairings.

    -Meagan (MLC)

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  • 23Jul

    Capital Grille Yet Again Pours Generously

     

    Lobster Mac ‘N Cheese.

    We recently attended Capital Grille’s Generous Pour, where through September 2nd you (for $25 in addition to the price of your meal) get to enjoy as many of nine specially chosen wines as you’d like. We covered this event last year as well. This year’s wine list is available here. The wines were excellent, with Conn Creek,  Anthology 2007, Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley being my favorite.

    Our waiter, Cliff did a great job of suggesting the wines we should try. He also anticipated our needs and went above and beyond to help us have a great experience. This included stearing “S” to a salmon dish that she really enjoyed, the Citrus Salmon.

    Salmon With Citrus Glaze, Green Beans, & Asparagus.

    Let’s talk about the food.

    The Lobster Mac ‘N Cheese was better than the version I had last summer, since this time, the lobster was more tender; the pasta choice wasn’t actually “mac” but was a good pasta choice with great texture that went well with the very creamy cheese sauce. The Pan Fried Calimari was excellent and was served with vine ripe tomatoes and hot peppers. The Bone-In Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin was huge and one of the best steaks I’ve had recently (Sorry Ray’s), although next time I might ask for the  shallot butter sauce on the side. The Prosciutto wrapped mozzarella was sautéed crispy and tasty. The flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake was dense, and while it was quite good, the Cheese Cake With Seasonal Berries was light, delicious, and the standout dessert of the two.  This was a great meal.

    -JAY

    Disclaimer:  I know something to this effect is stated in our “About” section, but (as sometimes happens), we received freebies.  That said, my words are my own.

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  • 16Jul

    Rye IPA Was Sampled at Cap City’s July Tapping Party

    Photo courtesy of Cap City Brewing Company.

    Capitol City Brewing Company introduced its Rye IPA at the July Tapping Party this Tuesday as part of its 20th anniversary seasonal craft beer series. Only two batches brewed, it is exclusively available during the month of July.This Rye IPA is hazy crimson in color with a medium body. It has moderate carbonation and a soft, lingering finish. There is a slight sweetness on the nose from the malts, reminiscent of apricot and smoke.

    A light and dry peppery spice from the presence of English rye malts (15% to be exact) help form the malt backbone with notes of toffee, toast and molasses from the caramelized rye and Munich malts. Of course, no Rye-PA would be complete without hops and this one in particular is well-balanced with American Centennial which lends a bright citrusy hop bitterness to the finish.

    Don’t let its murky complexion fool you; this Rye IPA is crisp and drinkable. At 6.5% ABV you might find yourself ordering another, thanks to the craftsmanship of the brewers and the guidance of Capitol City’s Director of Brewing Operations Mike McCarthy, who also appreciates a good beer he can drink more than one of without getting totally sloshed.

    This limited Rye IPA is available at both Capitol City Brewing Company brewpubs (Arlington, VA and Washington, DC) as well as 901 Restaurant & Bar and Penthouse Pool Club.

    -Guest Writer & Beer Aficionado, Meagan (MLC)

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  • 10Jul

    Pacari Chocolate Presentation at Cocova in DuPont Circle.

    As I turned the corner to the street where my GPS indicated Cocova should be, I saw a few restaurants, all doing good business…especially for a Sunday evening. But, Cocova was more subdued. All I saw was an A-frame board advertising a chocolate tasting.

    Like a speakeasy of decades ago, Cocova is in the basement. Since chocolate is a guilty pleasure for many, it kind of fits. Unlike the speakeasy, Cocova is well lit. Also unlike the speakeasy’s sinful nature, chocolate has been given a bad rep unfairly.

    When I was given this assignment, my experience with chocolate was limited to the sugary bars available atevery convenience store in the USA. That is the equivalence of writing an article about Formula 1 racing after having driven a 1972 Datsun B210.

    So, I studied as much as I could find about the subject. I found many articles online touting the benefits of chocolate consumption, including one article claiming indications that chocolate was involved in the treatment of some forms of cancer…but all of the articles that spoke positively of made a point to say it was DARK chocolate that the healthy stuff.

    After speaking with the people of Cocova, I found out that the truth is, the more raw the chocolate you consume, the healthier it is. I can only surmise, with my limited knowledge, that these articles copied the idea of dark only from each other; and that the originator of this idea was from a time when EVERYONE thought of chocolate as the same sugary bars and instant chocolate milk I bought at the grocery store…the idea of “dark” chocolate meant you could not buy it in a wrapper. I am now convinced that my “chocolate cravings” up until now have just been a combination of sugar cravings along with the comfort food the cheap stuff became.

    Now, when I get a REAL chocolate craving, Cocova is on the short list of places I will visit to satisfy it. Cocova offers tastings, classes, and private parties, and supplies chocolate from around the world.

    But, tonight, the focus is on Pacari Ecuadorian Organic Chocolate. Pecari was in town to exhibit at the Fancy Food Show.

    Pacari Chocolate was started in 2002 by Santiago Peralta with the help of his then girlfriend and now wife, with the hope to build a life for his family. Santiago reminded me of Antonio Banderas in the role of Zorro, with a genuine humility, but an underpinning of pride that you knew would attack like a jungle cat on anyone who insult him. He started Pacari with the idea that making the final product, premium chocolate that can compare to its European counterpart, would improve the value of the crop for the local farmers, increasing the farmers standard of living.

    Read the rest of this entry »

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  • 03Jul

    The Fancy Food Show Recently Hit DC!

    There were an incredible number of great products at this year’s Summer DC Fancy Food Show, and there is no way to cover every product I enjoyed, so I will show some of the highlights in the above photo gallery as well as list some of our favorite products below.

    Some of the great products we tried included Chimes mango flavored ginger chews,  Chewy’s chocolate rugaleh (their website is down), Happy Goat‘s chocolate and sea salt caramels, Belfine‘s (Belgian) espresso chocolate, Dancing Deer‘s brownies, Fairytale Brownies‘ Belgian chocolate cheesecake brownie, Walker’s Shortbread (we tried the lemon and the oat), Emmi‘s cheeses (Switzerland), Nueva Cocina’s coconut raisin rice (I haven’t tried the brown rice version yet), Tortuga‘s chocolate rum cakes, chocolate rum turtles, and Jamaica blue mountain coffee, and Rigoni De Asiago‘s Fiordfrutta wild blueberry fruit spread fig spread, nocciolata (hazelnut and chocolate spread) and Italian forest honey. organic, all.  Numi Organic Tea‘s Pu-Erh (what they actually call black teas in china–what we call black tea they call red tea) is my new breakfast drink.  They taste great and are supposed to have healing/weight loss properties–I prefer the chocolate, emperor, and cardamom over the jasmine, basil-mint, or coconut varieties. (Yes, Pu-Ehr has more caffeine than green or what we call black tea.)

    Events related to the show which I attended included a introduction to Korean food class, Cheeses of France event, a Taza Chocolate event at Oyamel, and Rare Tea Republic‘s rare tea tasting.  The Korean class was interesting because it was more of a tasting of flavors than food and they told you the exact order in which to try things (put this on your tongue and then drink that) .  Oyamel made a nice dessert with Taza’s chocolate. The French cheese event included some great French cheeses. The rare tea tasting was awesome because the tea buyer could explain in detail about the teas and the estates.

    -JAY

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  • 27Jun

    Ballston Farmer’s Market will Open Thursday, June 28 (Tomorrow)

    Announcement from the Ballston BID:

    “The Farmer’s Market will take place Thursday, June 28 from 3pm to 7pm at Welburn Square in Ballston (the Ballston Circle) between North Stuart & North Taylor Streets, across from the Ballston Metro.

    In addition to the participating merchants, the Grand Opening will feature a celebrity chef from the Ballston restaurant Willow, who will conduct an outdoor cooking demonstration, as well as live music from the noted-Rockabilly band, Jumpin’ Jupiter.”

    The vendors are listed in the announcement.

    -JAY

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  • 15Jun

    Some of the Best Things We’ve Eaten Recently #8!

    We’ve been sampling some great food lately lately, so let’s talk about some of the highlights.

    At the Saturday morning Courthouse Farmer’s Market, I purchased Cavanna Pasta’s Artichoke-Pesto Cannelloni ($15, think manicotti). The package has 3  frozen cannelloni per pack, and comes with heating instructions. My oven needed more time to heat up the frozen pasta than recommended in the instructions, but the end product was delicious. Some of the ingredients included basil, shallots, garlic, and pine nuts. Cavanna is based in Richmond. Arrowine carries Cavanna‘s products (and charges an extra $1 for the cannelloni).

    At the Clarendon Farmer’s Market I purchased a small Chocolate Salted Caramel Chess Pie for $10 from Livin’ The Pie Life, and although it was a bit pricey, that pie was well worth the money. It was truly delicious. They sell other varieties and give samples so that you can taste the pies.

    We tried a couple of nice desserts at the Tysons Corner Sheraton. Their Salted Caramel Vanilla Crunch Cake is a pudding cake containing rich caramel and creamy custard, topped with caramel popcorn bites. They also served Ice Cream from Moorenko’s (about whom we’ve written about previously a couple of times). The ice creams are all made with local produce. Flavors change weekly. We tasted the White Chocolate Mint & the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip.

    9:30 Club‘s Sound Bites featured some great dishes including the Boriquen Lunch Box‘s (Puerto Rican food truck) Pastelon, a sweet plantain and meat casserole with green beans, red and green peppers, onions, garlic, and tomato sauce. It is topped with cheese and I like to describe it  as “plantain lasagna.”

    Also at Sound Bites, Jose Andres‘ Pepe food truck made great Spanish food, including the Botifarra Burger and a ham & cheese sandwich (yes, there is a version in Spain). I did not try their mac and cheese.

    The Lamb Jam featured some great lamb dishes including Poste Moderne Brasserie‘s Lamb Carpaccio, and Bibiana‘s Stuffed Lamb Shoulder. I still vividly remember Bibiana’s Lamb Raviolis from the Lamb Jam’s media preview the previous year. I also very much enjoyed Heavy Seas Imperial stout, which tasted a bit like chocolate.

    Editor’s note (9/2/13): La Forchetta is now knows as Al Dente.

    La Forchetta is a new upscale Italian restaurant of Roberto Donna‘s in DC (nowhere near a metro). They have a cheese list and a cured meat list, and I enjoyed the Castelmagno cheese (cow, sheep, and goat milk). The Grilled Whole Branzino served with Broccoli Rabe and Salsa Verde was excellent. I would go back there for it, although it was a daily special. In general, the restaurant is supposed to excel at fish dishes. The children at the table next to us (the restaurant has a neighborhood crowd) were attacking their pizzas, so we decided to try a pizza with salami, and the pizza was good. The staff seems to lean towards the Tiramisu (it’s huge!) and Cartoccio Siciliano (fried sweet dough filled with sweet ricotta cheese) but we decided on the Bambolino (fried dough balls rolled in lemon sugar with a hot chocolate sauce) and the Zuppa Inglese (chocolate cream, rum sponge cake, hot vanilla sauce). Both desserts were excellent.

    Savor 2012 was last weekend, and it is an amazing beer show. I attended the CraftBeer.com Taste-Off Challenge, and got to see and taste 4 beer experts’ (3 are brewers) beer pairing skills. They had to choose a beer to pair with a rhubarb crisp, but they were not told lavender honey would be added. The 4 contestants were Jeff Hancock of DC Brau, Mike McManus of Brewery Ommegang, Chuck Silva of Green Flash Brewing Company, and Matt Bean of Men’s Health Magazine and Spike TV. While I was torn between Chuck’s choice (Belgian Trippel) and Matt’s choice (Allagash Coolship CERTES), and ultimately voted for Allagash Coolship CERTES, the winner turned out to be Mike’s choice (with Ommegang Aphrodite), my third choice. The DC Brau beer was El Hefe, and I beleive that the stealth addition of lavender destroyed the pairing, which was not Jeff’s fault.

    I sampled a lot of beer at Savor! Some of my favorite beers from Savor include Flying Dog‘s Chocolate IPA, Ithica Beer Company‘s Apricot Wheat, American Beer Company‘s Caboose Oatmeal Stout (I loved this) and Breakaway IPA, Fat Head Brewery‘s Sorcerer (paired with Pork Belly Mole), Bell’s Brewery’s Wild One Sour Brown and Smoked Vienna Lager, Hardywood‘s Singel and Mocha Belgique, Founders Brewery Company‘s Curmudgeon Old Ale, Maui Brewing Company‘s Coconut Porter, Willimantic Brewing Company‘s Flowers Infusion and Pony Espresso Stout, and Ninkasi Brewing Company‘s Believer (which was served with an awesome dish, Red Chile Braised Goat).

    -JAY

    Al Dente Ristorante on Urbanspoon

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  • 15Jun

    Events: Eat Local First & Two Chocolate Events

    In my inbox:

    -JAY

    ——————-

    EAT LOCAL FIRST WEEK 2012, JULY 14-21

    Eat Local First is a local food campaign that begins with a week-long celebration of local food in the Washington DC area. The focus will be on local farms, local restaurants and the organizations and people that are making locally-grown food more accessible in the DC community.

    From July 14 to 21, 2012, you can dine at restaurants participating in Farm-to-Table Restaurant Week, participate in an array of local food events and celebrate local food with your neighbors at our Farm-to-Street Party. Through this campaign Think Local First DC aims to educate and inspire you to eat local food whenever possible.

    EVENTS CALENDAR

    ———————————————–

    Here are upcoming events at Cocova (chocolate store in Dupont)

    Cocova’s next Sample Day is Saturday June 30th!

    We had to move our schedule around a little to accommodate some extra events this month.  Please mark you calendar for Saturday June 30th, 3pm – 6pm and stop by and experience over 15 fine chocolate bars.  This is a free event open to all.

    July’s samply event is the 21st and August’s is the 18th.

    Exclusive Tasting Events:

    This Sunday and Monday

    June 17 & 18

    6:30pm to 8:00pm

    We are honored to present and host two of the worlds finest chocolate makers this weekend. Both are here for the Fine Chocolate Industry Associations’ annual meeting and for the Fancy Food Show at the DC Convention Center. Even with their busy traveling schedule, they somehow have found time to allow us to share their world renowned chocolate with you at these free Owner events.

    Sunday June 17th  Pacari Chocolate

    Pacari is the first single-origin organic chocolate made entirely in Ecuador. Pacari uses only 100% organic and fair-trade cacao and ingredients.  Come meet the owner, Santiago Peralta, and discover some of his exclusive creations. Pacari has become renowned for their Raw Chocolate products which provide the most healthful benefits of Cocoa.  This is a free sampling event.

     Monday June 18th  Amano Chocolate

    Art Pollard, owner of Amano Chocolate, is dedicated to creating some of the world’s most exquisite chocolate through traditional techniques. Art takes care to visit plantations, buy directly from the growers, and when necessary, work with them to improve their skill in properly growing, fermenting and drying the cacao beans to meet his exacting standards.  Please come and sample Amano’s exquisite creations.  This is a free sampling event.

    —————

    Check out my friend Ami’s Costa Rica Tours and don’t forget to use the code “TOUCAN” to save money. He has some group tours that you can join, including an upcoming August tour, and I hear that airfare to Costa Rica is inexpensive right now for August.

    -JAY

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  • 08Jun

    RSVP for this Freebie at Nando’s in Pentagon City ASAP!

    RSVP for your free meal for up to 4 People ASAP, before too many people find out about it!

    It is FREE to dine on Monday, June 11th or Tuesday, June 12th but a reservation (maximum four guests per reservation) must be made in advance.

    The meal includes the following: Appetizer of your choice Combo meal (any sandwich or chicken entrée with any 2 sides) Dessert (yogurt, pastries, or cupcakes) Unlimited refills on soda or 1 beer/1 glass of wine.

    Email katie@mackenzie-pr.com to reserve your time slot for up to four people on Monday, June 11th or Tuesday, June 12th at the times listed above.

    —————————-

    Check out my friend Ami’s Costa Rica Tours and don’t forget to use the code “TOUCAN” to save money. He has some group tours that you can join, including an upcoming August tour, and I hear that airfare to Costa Rica is inexpensive right now for August.

    -JAY

    Edit: I’d assume they are out of space for RSVPs by now.

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