• 22Mar

    Two Evenings of Small Plates: Gryphon & Zaytinya!

    Two evenings this week, Cy and I attended restaurant events where some very tasty small dishes were served to us. The first of these events was at Gryphon‘s opening. The food was much better than most of the bars I have been to. While we were not fans of the fried cheese balls, there were some standout dishes including:

    The following evening, we attended the preview night for Zaytinya’s annual Greek Easter Celebration. This special menu runs from March 31st through May 5th. I always enjoy showing up at this event and finding several huge hunks of lamb turning on a spit. I loved the Apokreas cocktail, which is made from a combination of Metaxa, Verjus, and maple syrup and is garnished with red pickled quail egg and baby carrots. Some of the standout dishes were:

    -JAY

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  • 15Mar

    Bitter Winter Comfort

    Dinner!In these cold winter months, everyone loves warm comfort foods, but I always find myself yearning for brighter colors on my plate as a reminder that spring might someday arrive (stupid lying groundhogs aside). Luckily, even among winter’s dull feasts of brown tubers and dark greens, there’s still ample color to be found.

    Shopping around last week, inspiration struck me in the form of bright green bitter melons and celery, bright-skinned Beauregard sweet potatoes, and, of course, the presence of smoked pork jowls (not brightly colored, but gleaming suggestively in my imagination). I also picked up a celery root because (a) they’re tasty, (b) the flavor sounded like a good counterpoint to everything else, and (c) I’ve decided to take the whole snout-to-tail food movement to its illogical companion, eating root-to-leaf.*

    Ingredients:

    1 sweet potato, peeled
    1 baseball-sized celeriac, peeled
    3 smoked pork jowls
    2 medium bitter melons
    1 sweet onion
    1 medium leek (light parts)
    The very tiniest bright yellow hearts of a bunch of celery, minced
    Mustard seed
    Coriander
    Fennugreek
    Oil
    Mirin

     

    Sticking to some cold-weather traditions, I made a mash to accompany my (fairly traditional) usual bitter melon concoction. First, I threw the potato, celeriac, and jowls in my stock pot, and covered with water and brought it to a gentle boil and let it go about 20 minutes. When done, drain (reserving the liquid) and move the roots to a large-ish bowl.

    While that was boiling, I heated oil in my sauté pan with the spices, adding the leeks to melt and onions to caramelize. After about 15 minutes, I pulled the jowls out of the water, patted them dry, and threw them in my pan, cranking up the heat to render some of the fat. When that looked about right, I added the diced melon and celery, tossing to cover them with all that smoky, spicy goodness. When everything was cooked, I deglazed with a 1:1 mix of the reserved liquid and mirin.

    I poured deglazing that liquid over top of my roots for a rough mashing. I just used a fork because if you mash too finely or puree it, you’ll lose that lovely bi-color effect, and muddy the flavor. This way, you still get distinct bites – some sweet with mostly potato, some sharp crunchy celeriac, and some a lovely mix. Adding the bitter melon sauté over it was a wonderful combination – bitter, spicy, smoky, and of course: jowl!

    This is a wonderfully delicious and healthy one-dish dinner, but I served it with a fried egg on the side, because why not.

    – MAW

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    * Not really. This just sort of happened and when I noticed I decided to be silly about it because why the hell not. 

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  • 14Mar

    Josu Zubikarai Can Cook!

    Josu Zubikarai has joined La Tasca as Executive Chef. Last night at the Washington, DC location, Josu prepared some (20 or so) possible new menu items for a crowd of La Tasca’s friends. These are items he is considering for La Tasca’s new menu. Below are some of the dishes we sampled last night:

    Salmorejo Cordobés, Tortilla Torera, and Vieiras y Txangurro are notable because they are dishes or include ingredients that I do not normally enjoy, but I very much enjoyed these versions. The first of these three is a chilled tomato soup, and while I am not a fan of tomato soup or even gazpacho, this soup was flavorful, acidic, and included jamon Serrano. I am usually relatively neutral on Spanish tortillas (thick omelets), but this triple decker omelet was layered with tomato, lettuce, and aioli (fresh garlic mayo), and was very flavorful; I might exchange spinach for the lettuce, but regardless, it is a good dish.  The third dish was a pan seared scallop, and while I am not a fan of scallops, this one was placed over a Basque-style Maryland blue crab casserole; The scallop and blue crab combination was delicious.

    The Manchego Frito (fried cheese served with an orange marmalade sauce), Tosta de Sardinas (sardines on toast with a piquillo sauce), and Lubina Aceitunera (rockfish with white wine and black olives) were dishes I expected to enjoy (and did enjoy). Manchego is my favorite cheese, but I will say that the cheese dish was better when just out of the kitchen.

    Some of The meat dishes were among the best I tried that evening, including the Cerdo a la Mozarabe (pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon with pine nuts and raisins), Albóndigas a la Mostaza (beef and pork meatballs with a spicy mustard sauce), and Crudo de Buey (beef tenderloin served medium over mixed greens).

    I tried a white sangria with watermelon and kiwi while I was there, and it was a wonderful drink.

    What was really nice about this event was that we had scorecards for rating the dishes. I do not feel a need to mention the dish or two I was not a fan of since they will probably not make it on to the restaurant’s menu.

    -JAY

    Click to add a blog post for La Tasca on Zomato

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  • 12Mar

    Passover Dining in DC!

    Lisa Shapiro has written a great article on this year’s Passover options. I’m considering another trip to DGS now. She also talks about Todd and Ellen KassofF Gray’s new cookbook, The New Jewish Table. Thanks Lisa!

    -JAY

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  • 10Mar

    The Perfect Storm of Swordfish

    Zimmern & Greenlaw

    Zimmern & Greenlaw

    I had the opportunity to catch a few presentations at the DC Travel & Adventure Show yesterday at the Convention Center. Some of these presentations included those of Arthur Frommer, Andrew Zimmern, Seaworld/Busch Gardens (who brought animals such as penguins, prehensile-tailed skinks, hedgehogs, snakes, and a kestral), and Captain Linda Greenlaw. While I wanted to try Zimmern’s food, the woman serving the crowd was mobbed by people, so I will focus on the presenter whose food I did try, Captain Greenlaw.

    The Captain Linda Greenlaw who had a character based on her in the The Perfect Storm? The only female Swordfish Boat Captain in the United States? The Cookbook author? Yes, that one! I asked her a question about the fake fish story we keep hearing about, and she said that there are apps that can be used to correctly identity fish; she said Inland Fish has one, and that she is working on a fish identification app as well.

    The swordfish Captain Greenlaw cooked for us was from a DC fish store (and she had caught it), although I did not get the name of the store. I had a couple of pieces of swordfish, and it was quite good.  Below is her recipe.

    -JAY

    Pan Seared Fresh Swordfish with Blood Orange Caper Butter, by Linda Greenlaw

    INGREDIENTS

    6 fresh swordfish steaks, 1″ thick
    olive oil
    black pepper
    salt
     
    Blood Orange Caper Butter
     
    1/2 pound unsalted butter
    juice of 1 blood orange
    zest of one blood orange
    1/4 cup capers with liquid
     
    PREPARATION
     
    1. Melt butter in small sauce pan over low heat. Stir in orange juice, zest, and capers (with liquid). Remove from heat and refridgerate to congeal.
     
    2. Generously oil heavy cast iron frying pan. Brush swordfish steaks with live oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Heat pan on medium high burner until it is nearly smoking. Sear swordfish steaks until well browned on each side, about 2 minutes per side. Cover pan and cook for one minute. Remove from heat, leaving the cover on. Allow to sit covered for 5 minutes. Smear congealed butter mixture on hot fish steaks and serve immediately.
     
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  • 05Mar

    D.C. Culinary Talent Recruiting Event

    Revive_LogoAttention Chefs! Only 3 days left to apply for this.

    -JAY

    ————————

    **D.C. Culinary Talent Recruiting Event Alert**

    Revive DC to Host “Simmer: a Culinary Cook-Off Challenge”

    In an effort to recruit new culinary talent, D.C. catering mainstay, Revive DC will host a cook-off challenge chef audition

    Washington, DC (March 4, 2013) – Washington, DC based catering and event design company Revive is looking for a creative passionate chef to join their team. To attract new talent, Revive DC will host “Simmer: a Culinary Cook-off Challenge” to see who has the skills to cook, create and present a dish worthy of the Revive team. The chosen winner will become the newest team member of Revive Events & Catering taking on the role of the new face of Revive catering and the Revive dine-out shop.

    Revive is known for their health conscious cuisine and their work has been featured on NBC Washington (video), at the 2013 Presidential Inaugural events (Home Land Security Inaugural Lunch & Metropolitan Police Dept. Inaugural Breakfast), Yelp’s SpeakeasyDC. Up next Revive DC will participate in the Capital Area Food Bank Blue Jean Ball, the National Cherry Blossom Festival and more.

    Are you up to the challenge? To apply please send your resume and/or bio to Charesejohn@Revive-DC.com by Friday, March 8th. Chosen candidates will compete on March 14th.

    About Revive 

    Revive Events & Catering in Truxton Circle of Washington, DC is hailed as one of the best new boutique catering concepts to hit Washington’s growing culinary scene. The team led by partner and chef Charese John strives to realize new success by providing a healthy and unique alternative to the standard catering fare. Offering both event catering and made-to-order cuisine in the storefront, Revive will pique the interest of both Washingtonians and those living outside the beltway looking for a change from the traditional catering fare.

    Revive Catering is located at 8 Florida Ave, NW. Washington DC. For catering menus, pricing and additional information, go to www.revive-dc.com or call 202.667.1212.

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  • 04Mar

    Travel Show Free Ticket Contest!

    DCFüd is giving away 4 pairs of tickets for one day (Saturday or Sunday) at the Travel & Adventure Show (details below). So, who wants to win a pair of tickets to the event? All you have to do is email contest@dcfud.com with the subject “Travel Show Entry” and include your first and last name in the body of the email before 5:00 pm on 3/7 (Thursday).  Only one entry per person (regardless of how many email addresses you have). You will need to show ID to the venue to pick the ticket up. When the winners are chosen, I’ll email them, hopefully sometime that evening.  Good luck!

    -JAY

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    Travel & Adventure Show Returns to Washington, DC

    March 9 – 10

    SeaWorld Penguins and Travel Experts

    Rick Steves and Andrew Zimmern Among Highlights

     

    WHAT:            The metropolitan area’s Favorite Travel Show returns to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown, Washington, DC on Saturday, March 9 and Sunday, March 10, with an extensive array of destination vendors, free giveaways, and action-packed activities.  Travel Experts, including travel icon Arthur Frommer, best-selling travel writer, publisher and creator of the Frommer’s series of travel guides; Andrew Zimmern, co-creator, host and contributing producer of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World; and Public broadcasting stalwart Rick Steves, host of Rick Steves Europe, are among the industry luminaries who will host exclusive seminars for show attendees on various topics to help one plan an ideal vacation.

    New this year, both SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment and Busch Gardens will play a role in the show, with exhibitions that are both entertaining and educational. SeaWorld Orlando will offer visitors a voyage to the icy world of Antarctica, providing a virtual sneak peek of the continent’s thrills and chills. Walk side by side with a penguin colony, go beneath the surface, become an Arctic explorer and enjoy a unique family experience. There will even be live Magellanic penguins making scheduled appearances.

    Busch Gardens will bring a group of animal ambassadors, and share information regarding the conservation movement for these animals. Guests will have the opportunity to take pictures as well.

    Chef Rahman “Rock” Harper – 3rd Season winner of Hell’s Kitchen – will host the Culinary Stage both Saturday and Sunday, leading attendees through a combination of discussions and cooking demos, celebrating local, regional and global gastronomy.  Among the stage highlights, on Saturday, American’s only female swordfishing captain, Linda Greenlaw, will offer a presentation entitled “Life on the Seas with Captain Linda Greenlaw,” accompanied by a cooking demo that features Swordfish with Blood Orange and Ginger.

    Additionally, guests of all ages will have the opportunity take scuba lessons in a heated pool, or check their dexterity on a rock climbing while they plan the vacation of their lives.

    Exhibitors from a wide array of exotic and exciting destinations across the world and adventures practically in our own backyard will display thousands of thrilling travel opportunities, ideal for every budget.  From discovering the beauty of Maine to a magnificent sunset on the beautiful beaches of Aruba, to a tour of the Egyptian Pyramids on camelback or exploring a pulsating African wilderness, no destination is out of reach. The show is just right for anyone looking to create the vacation of a life time.  Exclusive “show deals” on select travel packages will help turn this long-lasting dream into a reality.

    The Events Supporting Sponsors include:  SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment and Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door.  Maine Office of Tourism is our Official Culinary Stage Sponsor and Ethiopian Airlines is the official airline sponsor.   NBC4 and The Washington Examiner are Media Sponsors.

    DATE/TIME:        Saturday, March 9th – 10:00am – 5:00pm

      Sunday, March 10th – 11:00am – 4:00pm

    TICKETS:               Each ticket is valid for one day only.

    Adults (17-and-over):  $10 Online with Promo Code:  DCPR

    (www.adventureexpo.com) or $15 at the Door

    Children:  Children 16–and-under are free with a paid adult.

     

    LOCATION:         Washington Convention Center

                                    801 Mount Vernon Place NW Washington, DC 20001

      Metro Stop: Mount Vernon Square-Convention Center Station (Green and Yellow Line)

     

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  • 01Mar

    Ever Eaten Snakehead Fish?

    Grills-Gone-Wild2011foreblastRocklands‘ “Grills Gone Wild” is next week, March 4-9.  You’ll want to have the Alligator Brunswick Stew, and the Grilled Wild Halibut on Friday.  So then when will you try the Wild Beaver Sausage, and — most importantly — the Blackened Snakehead Soft Tacos?  This menu is for one week only, and in addition to their regular menu.

    Our coverage of this event from previous years is here. At least they don’t have muskrat this year. It was not my favorite–it tasted like liver, and I’m not a big liver fan. Snakehead certainly sounds interesting–I’ve seen it on a menu here and there but never tried it.

    -JAY

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  • 28Feb

    Sandwich Jack Reviews Doner Bistro

    Doner2ADAMS MORGAN, D.C. — Within months of moving into the heart of the bustling entertainment district of Adams Morgan two years ago, I noticed myself spending considerably less leisure time here than I had before. Although new local-friendly parking restrictions and more mature, Obama-approved eateries suggest this could soon change, the neighborhood has long had a well-earned reputation for catering first and foremost to those who live elsewhere. As the proprietor of one 18th Street watering hole that does not offer an all-you-can-drink power hour tells me, “It’s always been known as a party area.” For better or worse, it still is.

    As anyone who has attended a NASCAR race or a jam band concert can attest, where intoxicated crowds are present, there too shall be cheap, fast, greasy food. One happy consequence of Adams Morgan’s nightlife scene enjoyed by visitors and residents alike is the neighborhood’s abundance of latenight snacking options. Better still, thanks to its famously diverse ethnic makeup, the area boasts a range of cuisines broader and more exciting than anywhere else in the District.

    When it comes to drunk food, I have a simple rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t eat it sober, don’t eat it wasted. My current go-to spot for dining in the wee hours, whether I’ve stayed local for the evening or I’m returning from abroad, is Döner Bistro, a cozy Turkish-German-style café that opened last year in a shopfront on the relatively sleepy east end of the Columbia Road strip. The joint has a homey, distinctly Iron Curtain-era vibe about it. The walls of the narrow, vibrantly-hued space are lined with long, biergarten-style wooden tables. As last call approaches, the din of the day’s Premier League highlights is interrupted with increasing frequency by the good-hearted shouts of revelers and the rhythmic thud of the foosball table that stands in the front window. (Failing to mention the foosball table until the end of the third paragraph is the definition of what journalists call “burying the lede.” That more bars don’t have a foosball table is tragic mystery.)

    Döner Bistro 1As importantly, the menu at Döner Bistro is chock full of drunk food par excellence. Being particularly inclined to the miraculous achievement of food consumption that is the sandwich, I gravitate naturally to the outstanding schnitzel sandwich, which features a flattened and breaded veal cutlet stacked inside a German brötchen roll and slathered with a tangy, tangerine-colored “spezial” sauce. It recalls a lighter, less gut-busting take on the fried pork tenderloin sandwiches popular in Indiana and elsewhere in the American heartland, and it is an ideal nightcap after a night of vigorous imbibing.

    Elsewhere, the eponymous döner dish is a merely passable example of the popular spit-roasted sliced meat (chicken or beef), served here on a sort of flatbread rather than the more traditional pita. Faring better is the borderline addictive currywurst, which comprises fried pork sausage sliced into bite-sized pieces, slathered in a spicy, curry-laced ketchup sauce and paired with a mountain of truly top-notch pommes. Washed down with any of the surprisingly generous selection of pilseners, kölsch, dopplebocks and heffeweizens, this meal is quite possibly the greatest midnight snack in the history of over-indulgence.

    If the grease-soaked paper plates lining Adams Morgan’s gutters on weekend mornings are any evidence, jumbo slice, the neighborhood’s most notorious culinary achievement, is as popular as ever. But for those willing to look a little harder (or for those whose health-consciousness renders them disinclined to eat a piece of pizza bigger this his own head), there is no shortage of diamonds in the rough waiting to be discovered. I can’t promise that a visit to Döner Bistro will lower your cholesterol, but I can promise that even in this marketplace of exceptional culinary variety, it will offer an experience, and a meal, that is unlike any other.

    -Sandwich Jack

    Jack Nank is the creator of the D.C.-based sandwich blog Eat a Sandiwch. You can follow him on Twitter at @SandwichJack.

    Doner Bistro on Urbanspoon

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  • 27Feb

    Graffiato’s Industry Takeover Night is Next Week!

    graffiato-buildingThis looks interesting, and they have another one (with different chefs and mixologists) on 4/1.
    -JAY
    ————————

    On Monday, March 4 Philadelphia Top Chef alum will take over the kitchen at Graffiato. Top Chef Season 7 winner, Kevin Sbraga and his head mixologist, Anwar Morgan, will serve food and a cocktail from the Sbraga menu. Top Chef Season 6 and All-Stars alum, Jennifer Carroll, will preview bites from her forthcoming NY restaurant, Concrete Blonde. Derek Brown, bartender and co-owner of The Passenger and The Columbia Room, will also serve up a libation.

    Like all Graffiato Industry Takeover Nights, guest chefs will offer complimentary snacks from the pizza bar, as well as drink specials from 10:00pm to 1:00am.

    The current line-up of Industry Takeover guests is available online, including more Pennsylvania guest chefs in April.

    • Brad Spence, chef/partner, Amis in Philadelphia
    • Justin Severino, chef/owner, Cure in Pittsburgh

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