The simple roast chicken

When I first began cooking a few years ago I found a recipe on Epicurious called “my favorite simple roast chicken” by Thomas Keller. My interest immediately peaked since Keller is probably the most celebrated chef in America and currently has two of the top ten restaurants in the world: The French Laundry and Per Se. He’s known for incredibly advanced cooking, now specializing in sous-vide, but this recipe seemed both basic and delicious so I tried it.

I know it’s hyperbolic to say what I’m going to say, but it was the best chicken I’d ever eaten. It was far and away the single best dish I’d ever made, and probably still is, which is both ironic and infuriating since I usually can’t stand chicken and for all the time I’ve spent working on elaborate, difficult and exciting dishes, the simplest one always wins.

But I’m telling you I was at a loss for words. It was beautifully crisp, moist, flavorful, scrumptious, and just as predicted in it’s description, I quickly eschewed my fork and knife for my hands. How often do you find yourself with a dish so fantastic you’re practically licking the plate clean at a restaurant, let alone at home? But this chicken is so soulfully good it happened here, and continues to do so. The best part? It’s idiot proof (example later). I’ve given this to both experienced cooks and complete novices and the reaction has uniformly been complete and utter ease and satisfaction.

Ok, enough fawning. Fast forward to two weeks ago when food writer Andreas Viestad wrote an article in the Washington Post about Keller, specifically his roast chicken (go figure), so it was time to write about it here. The piece explains how cooking imperfections actually help this chicken and of course it included the recipe. Their recipe is slightly different from mine which is also slightly different from Keller’s cookbook, but they are all easy and I’m sure end up with a fantastic final product.

Onto the cooking...

The recipe I use calls for a 2-3 pound whole chicken, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh thyme. Simple and (reasonably) cheap.

A small chicken is actually really important here because it’s cooked at an extremely high heat so the bird can only cook so long before drying out too much. Yes it’s hard to get chickens that small but you can usually find organic chickens at Harris Teeter and Whole Foods in that range (the non-organic are often much larger). I think the perfect bird is right around 3 pounds and you can use one up to 3.3 pounds with no problems. When purchasing, make sure there are no bruises etc., you want a healthy good-quality chicken.

Once at home you have to clean the bird. If there’s a gizzards packet inside, remove and discard it. Rinse the chicken under water, set aside, and then dry both the inside and outside very well with paper towels. If you don’t handle whole chickens much drying the inside cavity might feel gross, deal with it. It’s really not bad and the difference in the final product is enormous. Drying might be the single most important step since as Keller says, “the less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.”


The trussed chicken

Once cleaned, pre-heat the oven to 450-degrees and then rub salt and pepper inside and outside of the chicken. Use a generous amount of salt on the outside, about 1 tablespoon. The salt makes the skin both crispy and flavorful.

Next, truss the bird (if you wish). Trussing makes for a much prettier chicken but otherwise it won’t make a major difference. Don’t know how? I first learned from this simple video:



Now add the chicken to a skillet, breast side up, and add to the heated 450-degree oven. If you mess up and add the chicken the other way, don’t worry too much. Last time I made this I was already halfway through a bottle of wine and accidentally put it in upside down, and yet, the final product was still fantastic. If you don’t have a skillet, a saute pan or Au Gratin dish work as well.

Set the timer for 50 minutes and leave it alone.

The recipe calls for cooking between 50-60 minutes, depending on the chicken’s size. I’ve found that 55 minutes is reliable, go for 60 only if the chicken’s larger than 3 pounds.

Remove the chicken, the skin should be browned and crackly (pictures below and up top). Add the fresh thyme leaves to the juices in the pan and then spoon over the chicken. Move the chicken to a cutting board for about 15 minutes so the internal juices run back to the center.


The finished chicken in the skillet

Carve and serve.

I find the easiest way is to first cut the legs off and work from there, splitting the breast down the middle and serving it with the wing attached. Honestly though, the best parts aren’t here, but in the bits that remain. There are a few delicious bites in and around the backbone that are worth forking out, but none quite as good as the chicken butt (Final four worthy in the meat bracket last week). Don’t believe me? Here it from Keller: “I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards.”

If you’re looking for a more elegant presentation, put a breast on the bottom with a crispy leg on top, and garnish with a few dollops of various mustards around the side. If not, make a mound of juicy chicken and make sure to include all those delicious morsels still attached to it. Add more of the juices on top and leave fresh butter on the side.

Try it sometime, you'll be shocked just how good this simple roast chicken can be.


Crispy leg and chicken breast, once plated

Yogurt Review #1 - Tangy Sweet

In DC, no yogurt shop’s more recognizable than the ultra-modern Tangy Sweet in Dupont Circle. With distinctive decor, a central location, and quality ingredients they’ve established themselves as the best known yogurt shop inside DC, but does that mean they’re the best? 

Walk inside Tangy Sweet just once and you’ll likely never forget the space. The small rectangular shaped room is extremely modern and futuristic with a huge emphasis on environmental friendliness. The signature element of the décor is the five clear beams that run across the ceiling, down the wall and jut out at shoulder-height for a place to rest your yogurt. Those beams, made in part with recycled acrylic, have color-changing lights inside, altering the store’s lighting every few seconds - from shades of green to blue to purple and more. Otherwise, the store is rather stark and clean, almost sterile feeling at times.


The beams with blue lighting


The beams with green lighting

As for the products itself, they are always fresh and refreshing, yet sometimes boring too. The yogurts are mixed on site, made from a live active culture base, water, non-fat milk, sugar and fresh juice. The tart yogurt here stays fresh for four or five days, although Tangy Sweet goes through them much quicker: a batch every other day on slow days and as much as ten batches a day (of each flavor) on busy summer days. Those flavors include permanent mainstays plain tart, green tea and pomegranate, as well as one rotating flavor: pumpkin spice last fall, peppermint this past winter and currently blackberry (though they say they’ll be rotating them more often now). While this isn’t a huge or particularly imaginative selection, it’s similar to most other shops’ selections. 

As for their taste, Tangy Sweet is certainly refreshing but is also light on flavor. I know, tart yogurt simply won’t have the intensity of flavor ice cream does, and on the bright side, it’s lighter flavor lets the toppings shine. But still, Tangy Sweet’s flavors are too subtle, sometimes even making it difficult to differentiate between each flavor. I’ve had the most luck strength-of-flavor-wise with the rotating flavors, pumpkin spice and blackberry specifically. Although you better make sure you like the flavor first because at $3, $4 and $5.50 (w/o tax) for the three sizes, Tangy Sweet doesn’t leave much room to try flavors you don’t love, especially in these tough economic times. Between flavors? Green tea is a reliable choice as well.

A small blackberry yogurt with mango and mochi balls

Tangy Sweet’s topping selection is similar to their yogurts - high quality ingredients, fresh, presented beautifully, and (mostly) healthy, yet also basic and somewhat unimaginative. Their topping bar has 18 selections with some clear strengths and weaknesses. If you love chocolates or sweets on your yogurt, Tangy might not be your place. On my last trip they only had three types of chocolate available (Oreo’s and two types of chocolate chip morsels) and their other sweet options were Capt’n Crunch cereal, Fruity Pebbles cereal, waffle cone bits, jimmies and one or two other choices.


The topping bar with breakfast cereals and chocolate

On the other hand, Tangy really shines with their healthier add-ons. Not only do they have almond slices, granola bunches, coconut shavings, and mochi bits (the original topping for tart yogurt), but they have an incredibly fresh selection of fruits. Arriving at the perfect time one trip, I had mango that had just been sliced in the back and the difference was unmistakeable. Other fruits include blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberry slices, and pineapple slices. With fruits being replaced every other day the selection is reliably fresh and juicy, frankly it's often better looking than the selection at local supermarkets. My personal favorite is a combination of Oreo, pineapple and mango; when eaten together it’s sweet, sour, chocolatey and fruity all at once. Yet this bite will come at a steep price - toppings are 99 cents each and $2 for 3, bringing the yogurts to $5, $6 and $7.50 respectively. If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, try one of the plain yogurts and add the free toppings (Chocolate sauce, caramel and honey).


The fruit toppings

Tangy Sweet also offers a few smoothie choices, hot chocolate, and the newest addition: cupcakes from Red Velvet Bakery. Tangy Sweet’s Chinatown location shares space with the Red Velvet Bakery and their owners are siblings so look for continued sharing in the future. That location, while not quite as chic and modern in design, is larger than Dupont's and includes a juice bar on site as well.

Seating at the Dupont Location

All in all, Tangy Sweet is a very welcome addition to the DC food scene. It’s environmentally friendly focus and futuristic design provide a unique experience for Washingtonians. While it’s far from perfect on all angles, it's quality of fruits and fresh and refreshing taste certainly make it worth the trip. 

The tart yogurt craze

With Spring here and warm weather around the corner there’s no better time to visit and compare the ever expanding group of tart yogurt shops in DC. The craze hit DC last year, practically taking over the city last summer with competing shops in Dupont like Tangy Sweet and Mr. Yogato. Since then? It’s only grown with five new shops open since September to make it eight (and counting) inside DC alone. Read Meat’s going to review each (and the countless more that will likely open in the following year), starting with Tangy Sweet today. But first, the background.

When most people think of frozen yogurt something like TCBY comes to mind. That traditional frozen yogurt is really a lighter form of ice cream, healthier than the alternative but not usually “yogurt” at all. But tart frozen yogurt? That’s a completely different animal - it’s real yogurt, both in taste and composition. It’s ingredients are simple (at least at Tangy Sweet): live and active culture base, water, non-fat milk, sugar and the juice of whatever flavor’s being made. They’re mixed together and put into a soft-serve dispenser, and voila, you have a cold refreshing tangy yogurt-tasting treat.

So how did it get so popular? In part, health. Not only is tart yogurt considerably healthier than ice cream, but some claim it’s actually good for you. Their assertion, like Dannon’s Activia, is based on the live and active cultures in the yogurt, which are supposed to help with digestion and immune system issues. Though I think the jury’s still out on this one. Either way, it’s much healthier than the alternatives. That combined with a rather addicting and refreshing taste sparked the obsession and off it went. 

In America, tart yogurt first gained popularity in Southern California, spawning a flood of yogurt shops including the most famous, Pink Berry, which recently was the subject of an AmEx commercial (below). Fast forward a few years and (after hitting New York) tart frozen yogurt arrived in DC, setting off the obsession that began last summer. And here we are today with two shops in Georgetown (Sweet Green, Iceberry), two in Adams Morgan (Caliyogurt, O-Yeah), two in Dupont (Tangy Sweet, Mr. Yogato), one in Cleveland Park (Yogiberry) and one in Chinatown (Tangy Sweet’s second location).

Later today, the Tangy Sweet review.

James Beard Finalists announced

I posted last month about the James Beard Award semi-finalists being announced, including 13 nominations for DC-area restaurants and chefs. Well, the finalists were announced today and five chefs are left:

Outstanding Chef: José Andrés of Minibar

Rising Star Chef of the Year: Jonny Monis of Komi

Best Chef Mid-Atlantic:

Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve

Peter Pastan of Obelisk

Vikram Sunderam of Rasika

Sadly, neither of the restaurants nominated for best restaurant in America made the final cut (Kinkead's and Vidalia), both certainly were worthy nominees. Fortunately, however, the James Beard Awards also recognizes people working in other parts of the food industry, including journalists, broadcast media hosts, writers and more. 

From there Washington DC received three more nominations, all to the Washington Post. Food critic Tom Sietsema is nominated for two awards including Best Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants/chefs and for Best Restaurant Reviews. Moreover, Joe Yonan of the Washington Post was nominated for the Best Newspaper Food Section award. If it wasn't obvious before, clearly we've got a pretty incredible group of food writers here in DC!

My kind of bracket

The people at ESPN have done it again. In the spirit of March Madness, ESPN.com writer Paul Lukas created his own tournament - of meat. The tourney includes a bracket of 64 different types of meat facing off against one another to crown the champion of meat. His four regions? Beef, pork, sausage and miscellaneous. 

I'm not going to lie and tell you I agreed with every ranking and pick he made, but do you think I'd attack a man that made a bracket of meat?? I'd likelier start his fan club.

But here are five things (both good and bad) I couldn't help but notice: 

1. Hanger steak deserves considerably better than the 13-seed in the beef region. It might not be well known but on strict flavor there might not be a better cut out there. 

2. Bacon's great but let's be honest, it's not the single best pig product. I'd sooner take a roast suckling pig or a sandwich of cured Italian meats in a heartbeat... Taylor Gourmet anyone?

3. A whole roasted chicken didn't make the list? That's practically the only type of chicken I truly love, besides chicken tails... cue #4 

4. Chicken tails/butt making the final four was an incredibly bold and wise move. Try it sometime and you'll understand. To mirror the Washington Post's tag: If you haven't had it, you haven't had it.  

5. ESPN/Paul Lukas = Genius

Speaking of roast chickens... a new recipe post will be out Wednesday. 

The future of food?

Below is an interesting (and hilarious) speech from this past summer about the future of foie gras, and maybe all of food, by New York chef Dan Barber.

Without giving away too many details, his speech focuses on a Spanish farm that makes foie gras an entirely unique way - by letting their geese live naturally on the farm and never force-feeding them. They’re famous not because it’s a new technique but because they were named the best foie gras in the world last year, so it’s no bs.

Among other things, Barber hits on how they ensure their foie gras has the look and taste they want - simply adding plants of those colors and flavors to the farm, which the geese then happily eat.

While it hardly seems time-efficient or possible to bring to other farms in a large-scale way, it’s an interesting concept. And the speech is really funny. Watch the whole thing, you’ll hear what the Jews in Egypt and the Pharaoh have to do with foie gras. Thanks to Emily for shooting my way.

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Locolat Cafe

When I’m in the mood for incredible chocolates or a painfully delicious light meal I often head to Locolat Cafe. Owned and run by Belgian pastry chef whiz Niel Piferoen, formerly of Citronelle and the Willard, Locolat Cafe is home to some fantastic traditional Belgian creations. Just one bite of their candies or waffles and you can tell this food is unmistakably different from the norm. So what’s the difference? A near fanatical devotion to purity, process, and products.

For a shop that’s both small (only seven tables) and strangely shaped, Locolat has real character. Located at the bottom of Adams Morgan, you can see the kitchen on your way in, filled with Wonka-esque foods and machines and manned by either Niel or his wife Ada. The other is usually behind the register and both are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable when ordering. Niel’s more than happy to discuss the creation processes (as in-depth as you’d like), how business is and what foods are coming next.

Locolat Cafe's interior

I prefer Locolat for a smaller casual brunch where I can choose between a slew of different waffles while drinking their homemade hot chocolate. Since waffles in Belgium aren’t a breakfast food but rather a mid-afternoon snack or dessert, Locolat’s waffle selection is more similar to crepes than American waffles. For a distinctly breakfast-like waffle, try the traditional Brussels waffle ($6.60), served with homemade whipped cream, a fresh strawberry, powdered sugar, and a strawberry and raspberry compote. Pictured below, the waffle is incredibly light, fresh and satisfying. Better yet, it’s also available with a scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream ($7).

Brussels waffle with whipped cream and fruit compote

For a more substantive waffle, Locolat has a selection of savory: a red or green vegetable waffle served beneath the choice of grilled vegetables, prosciutto and parmesan or smoked salmon. All are served with an arugula salad and a drizzle of spicy mayo. This waffle is thicker, heartier, and partly vegetable-tasting, but still crisp and no less satisfying. Try the green vegetable waffle with smoked salmon on top ($8.75), it will not disappoint for any meal.

Green vegetable waffle with smoked salmon

Inside the green vegetable waffle

Have a sweet tooth or craving dessert? Consider the chocolate chip Liege waffle ($6.25). This is a cakier waffle, thicker and incredibly rich, with a noticeable crackle of sugar at the end of each bite. It’s slightly too sweet for my taste, but if you love sugar or chocolate then have it. Either way, it blows away your average chocolate chip waffle.


Chocolate chip Liege waffle

Toppings aside, the waffles here taste nothing like your average American-style Belgian waffle. So what’s the difference? Yeast. Locolat’s waffle batter is flour, whole eggs, milk, sugar and yeast; whereas American waffle batters generally come from a bag of flour and processed ingredients mixed with milk or water (and sometimes eggs). Yeast reacts differently in each type of waffle, but here it lets the Brussels waffle be airier and allows the Liege waffle to be cakier. Try it and you’ll see immediately.

Locolat also has traditional European foods including homemade quiches, pates, and puff pastry sandwiches. I haven’t tried them yet, though I’d be surprised if they were anything but good.

But the real heart and soul of their business is their confectionaries. Their truffles are made of hazelnut butter cream rolled into hand-scraped belgian chocolate shavings - the only real truffle according to Locolat. Swiss truffles are similar but come filled with a ganache, while the mass produced American truffle is made from a mold and injected with most anything you want. Locolat also makes ganaches and pralines and other candies like the Swiss and American versions, but they are clear - they are candies not truffles. With rough shavings all around, their truffle ($1.40-$2) might not look quite as pretty as the Godiva truffle, but it easily wins on taste.

Locolat's milk chocolate truffle

To make the truffles, they heat the liquid chocolate to about 90 degrees and then take it from the chocolate wheel (below) and spread it across a granite surface only to scrape it off with their hands, piece by piece, until it’s all gone. Those shavings make up the outside of the truffle, which the hazelnut butter cream is then rolled in. Who knew that much manual labor could possibly go into making a truffle?

The chocolate wheel 

But their detail and dedication extends far beyond just truffles or chocolate. For example, their mojito flavored chocolate ($2) is infused with house-made fresh mojitos. For the pistachio chocolates, they use a pistachio paste so good that it costs $150 for a 20-ounce can. All of the fruit flavored candies are made with fresh fruit, from the banana chocolate to the passion fruit chocolate, made with a fresh passion fruit puree. And as for their hot chocolate, it’s imported from Belgium as chocolate chips and then turned into liquid chocolate - a significantly departure from the usual hot chocolate powder.

As for their future, Locolat will be celebrating it’s first anniversary in June and a new line of chocolates are being unveiled for it, including potentially a bacon and chocolate candy. If they’re anything like their current food, they will certainly impress.

Locolat Cafe
1781 Florida Avenue, NW Suite-A 

Washington, DC 20009
202.518.2570

www.belgiumlocolat.com

Rita's

For most people the start of Spring conjures up images of barbeques, parks, blooming flowers, and baseball season. But for native Philadelphians it means Rita’s water ice is back! 

Rita’s is not only one of the more delicious cold treats ever invented it’s also one of the foods I most closely associate with my childhood and the city of Philadelphia. There’s nothing quite like a refreshing Rita’s water ice, much lighter than ice cream but with way more flavor than tart yogurt. It’s simple, cheap, and downright addicting. 

Fortunately for everyone here, Rita’s have started popping up in DC with three open locations and three more under construction. Just a few years ago I had to drive nearly an hour to middle-of-nowhere Maryland to find a Rita’s so this is a SERIOUSLY welcome change. In fact, I was so excited when the Adams Morgan Rita’s opened last March that I practically tackled the Rita’s furry mascot (in a life-size water ice costume) standing outside. The saddest part is that my elation isn’t being exaggerated. My friend Ross can attest. 

What’s important, however, is that one of the great Philly-area concoctions is here and Washingtonians can have and obsess over “wooder ice.” 

So what is it? Water ice, aka italian ice, is basically ice, fruit, corn syrup and a few holding ingredients. They are mixed together on site, frozen, and served within a day or two of being made. If you’re looking for an all-natural dessert - look elsewhere. But if you want to try a painfully delicious cold dessert that’s light, flavorful, and sure to hit the spot, then Rita’s is for you.

Water ice really isn’t like any other dessert you’ve had. It’s base is water rather than cream so it’s much softer and lighter than ice cream or yogurts. And while some have compared it to a slushee or snow-cone or polar cup, this sort of blasphemy is simply incorrect and not appreciated. Water ice isn’t shaved ice or simply water and dye and it isn’t served out of a machine. The flavors are much stronger, the composition firmer, and it’s created, in part, like ice cream.

The basic product at Rita’s is italian ice, pictured above. There are a multitude of flavors but I am 100% committed to mango, which is supposedly their best-seller. Some flavors like strawberry have bits of fruit while others like mango don’t. Rita’s has all the basic flavors and in recent years have added unique ones like sweet tea, georgia peach, and lemonade.

Now if for some bizarre reason sweet and syrupy tastes aren’t for you, Rita’s also has custards - always vanilla and chocolate and sometimes others too. 

Sound too good to pick just one? Rita’s has something for you, the gelati (above). The gelati is water ice sandwiched between custard on the bottom and on top. The creaminess of the custard and refreshing and flavorful taste of the water ice together create another completely unique taste. It's simply fantastic. Pick any type of water ice but order the vanilla custard since the chocolate custard overwhelms the water ice (unless you want chocolate with chocolate water ice).

Recently, Rita’s added a number of new dessert-like beverages that are a blend or some variation of their other products. As a Rita's purist, I don't fall for the new ones but try them and decide for yourself. Either way, after just one bite you’ll be hard-pressed to put down anything from Rita’s.

Commissary

I came upon Commissary not so much from recommendations but because I was searching for a moderately priced meal appropriate for a big group near Dupont/U Street. Having been to Alero and Lorial Plaza (more than) enough times, I figured we could do without basic Mexican, again. It also helped that Commissary’s owners, EatwellDC, have a strong track record of operating popular moderately-priced restaurants, including Grillfish, Logan Tavern, and The Heights (Although, I’ve seldom enjoyed Grillfish... but that’s a different conversation).

I wasn’t sure what to expect for dinner especially since they are much better known for their breakfast menu, which happens to be available until 5pm daily. What I found was a relaxed and inviting environment, a long attractive bar, a whole lot of patriotism and simple yet really tasty American comfort food.

Named after the military provisions stores, Commissary smacks of pure Americana from their logo outside, American flags hanging inside, walls adorned with monster chalk boards listing the hand drawn menus and of course their motto “honest pricing”. The space is large and airy, well suited for just about any type of meal or just coffee and drinks. 

And at $7.50, those cocktails were both popular and reasonably priced. Highlights included the Stoly Doly with house made pineapple-infused vodka; the Derby with bourbon, mint syrup, mint and lime; and one drink as American as apple pie, literally - Hot Apple Pie, made of apple cider, Tuaca and cinnamon served warm.

As for the food, the menu was large and accommodating to most every palette and size of appetite, with options ranging from hot and cold small plates, sandwiches, salads, pizzas and “bigger things”. Staying patriotic, the cuisine was largely American comfort food interspersed with foreign classics that have made their way into the American diet over time. For example, their small plates ranged from fried chicken fingers to crispy chicken dumplings to serrano ham with melon.

One highlight of the small plate menu was the mediterranean platter ($12) that included hummus, artichoke hearts, black and green olives, taramasalata and grilled pita. It was far from out of the ordinary but the other hundred DC restaurants that serve mediterranean platters could take notice and add artichoke hearts to their platter as a simple way to enhance the platter.

As for the main course, options included everything from chicken kebobs to steak and eggs to fish and chips. The Argentinian style skirt steak with chimichurri sauce and matchstick fries ($16) was as good as it was cheap. The steak, served rare, was oozing with juices while the Argentinian-born chimichurri brought the extra pop it’s famous for. Nothing unusual or breathtaking here, but simple and done right. Another highlight was the grilled tilapia with lemon-caper butter ($15) which was surprisingly moist and flavorful for a fish that’s usually quite bland. Ironically enough, it was better than any dish I’ve had at their fish-centric restaurant, Grillfish. On future trips, however, I’d avoid the chicken kebobs with yellow rice ($12), which was dried out and flavorless.

All in all Commissary is a success. The setting’s relaxed and versatile enough to be suited for almost any meal or occasion, and the food is both inviting and tasty. With a preponderance of overpriced yet under-performing restaurants in DC, it’s a very welcome change to see the opposite.

Commissary

1443 P St NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 299-0018

www.commissarydc.com

From Head to Tail

There are a ton of food movements (mostly fads) out there these days. A few are interesting and worthwhile but many are bizarre and mostly hot air. But one I can get behind? The head to tail movement.
 
Dumbed down, the essence of the movement is to cook with underutilized meats so all parts of an animal are eaten. It's not about eating one entire animal (like a lamb or pig on a spit), but rather eating the offal, organ meat, and other usually discarded meats. Why? First, because every section of the animal can be delicious and (sometimes) healthy if properly cooked. And second, if the animal’s died for us to eat it then we have a responsibility to not let any part of it go to waste.
 
In Dan world this breaks down to:

Utilize all parts of animals =Try more types of meat
Don’t let any go to waste= More food for me
 
I’m fairly convinced this was actually designed for me. And not only are there serious tangible plusses to eating more animal parts but there is some validity to the ethical argument as well - having basic respect for what we eat. I love animals, as in I love eating them. But when I take a moment to pause amidst devouring a delicious animal there comes a basic respect for just how good it can be. Our eating habits demand that a ton of cows, pigs, chickens, ducks etc are raised and killed in America for us to eat, and I’m A-OK with that on my conscience! But if we’re going to ensure all those animals are slaughtered for us then I think we need to do a better job of making sure no part of the animal is simply wasted or thrown away. It's a simple deal with nature since they are so freaking tasty. With that siad, here's the obvious disclaimer - this doesn't mean every part of every single animal should be eaten. There are plenty of parts that are simply unsanitary, unhealthy, inedible, and disgusting; those aren't included.

So why am I randomly posting on this?

I couldn’t help but think of the head to tail movement a few times Tuesday night during my birthday dinner at Palena. It’s frankly hard not to appreciate underutilized meats after having the fabulous homemade pasta with oxtail or various house made sausages, pates and terrines. Then I saw this post on the Zagat website Wednesday listing DC restaurants that actually use their extra meats and embrace the head to tail approach.

You might not have tried them before, but head to tail is actually embodied in some of the best kitchens in the country. Take for example, Marc Vetri, chef of Vetri and Osteria in Philadelphia (Vetri is often considered the best Italian restaurant in America). At Vetri, his signature dish is braised pig’s feet ravioli. Imagine that, the best Italian restaurant in America serves pig’s feet in their signature dish. And at Osteria you can have roast suckling pig, which amongst other things comes with pig’s ear. Bourdain would be in heaven.

Some chefs have actually made their name on this process. One of the leading proponents of the method, San Francisco chef Chris Cosentino, explains the process and rationale behind head to tail in the youtube below.


 
Unfortunately though, there aren’t nearly enough chefs in DC who serve any unique or offal meats on their menus. Nor can you buy most cuts at supermarkets. I counted twelve different types of sausage at Whole Foods yesterday, but not a single blood sausage – it’s sad. It's actually an arduous process to find blood sausage anywhere in DC.
 
Many eaters I know have never tried offal (or for that matter any underutilized) meats, but they should. They are way more approachable than one might think. For all the French and Italian we all eat, try a tripe soup or stew one time (Or have it in a Pho soup at a Vietnamese place). If you love the grill then go for an Argentinean or Uruguayan style asado and try the sweetbreads, chitterlings or kidneys with some lemon juice on top - they will shock you with their crispy outside and rich inside. Prefer hot sandwiches? Go to a deli and try beef tongue on rye sometime. It won’t bite. 

Go out to eat today, it's for a good cause...

Wanted to let you know that today, March 5th, restaurants around DC are participating in a community fundraiser for Food & Friends called "Dining Out For Life." Over 150 spots will donate a portion of their sales (from 25-100%) to Food & Friends to support people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other illnesses.

So ... use this as an excuse for a long lunch or fun dinner. Here is the list of participating restaurants, consider one of them if you know you're heading out tonight. 

Dining Out For Life is an annual fundraising event raising money for the nonprofit Food and Friends. 

Food and Friends is the only nonprofit organization in the Washington area providing daily, home-delivered, specialized meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to individuals in the community who are facing some of life's most difficult challenges. The funds raised through Dining Out for Life allows Food & Friends to continue to provide these critical services at NO COST to the clients.

Adour

When Adour showed up on the list of places participating in restaurant week I immediately booked a reservation. Adour is the newest fine dining restaurant in DC, one of legendary French chef’s Alain Ducasse’s restaurants, and a place I've wanted to try since it's opening last year. I also knew it would be prohibitively expensive on their normal menu, so restaurant week was my chance. It seemed that a whole lot of other diners had the same idea since I couldn’t get a lunch reservation until the second week of restaurant week.

Adour is just the latest of Alain Ducasse’s global empire of restaurants. He’s the only chef in the world to have three restaurants in different cities/countries with three Michelin stars. This isn’t a guy who’s famous because he guest hosted Top Chef or wrote a cookbook, although some fabulous chefs do both, he’s famous because he's considered one of the best few chefs in the world. With that said, Adour isn’t why he’s famous.

Upon walking in it’s difficult not to concentrate on the decor. The first room is dark with a luxurious bar. The main dining room (above) is small, only seating 60 people, and is shielded by glass wine cellars on either side of the room. The furniture are various shades of off-white while the ceilings are dark and grand. The servers fit the decor, all in black suits with white shirts and black ties, fading into the background as they quickly maneuver through the restaurant. The service was excellent throughout and a highlight of the meal.

Even though Adour is a fine dining French restaurant the flavors were surprisingly American. We started with the sunchoke parmentier soup with bacon foam and the dorade ceviche. The soup was poured into the bowl tableside over bacon bits, breadcrumbs, and foam. The taste of the sunchoke, aka the Jerusalem artichoke, was subtle and mostly overshadowed by the bacon foam and bacon bits which were smokey and distinctly American. The dorade ceviche was a better all-around dish, incredibly fresh with a topping of guacamole, cilantro, red pepper, and the slightest hint of tabasco. Dorade, better known as seabream or orata, was light in taste and texture and allowed for the topping to shine, but those flavors were pretty subtle as well. The final product was a mix of latin and Southwestern tastes: latin ceviche when taking a bite of the cilantro while Southwestern when tasting the guacamole and red pepper.

For the main courses we tried the pasta with shredded duck and cooked chestnuts and the hanger steak with potatoes boulangere and spinach. The pasta were well cooked thin double tubes with a delicious cheese and cream sauce that resembled luxurious mac and cheese. The shredded duck leg was also soft, rich, and tasty, although the cream sauce sort of overshadowed the duck’s richness. Neither of us enjoyed the cooked chestnuts, however, they were incredibly heavy and added little. 

Hanger steak with potatoes and spinach

As for the hanger steak, it was served as ordered, rare, with a shallot and red-wine infused butter on top and specialty salt sprinkled on each piece. This was a pretty innovative take on the basic hanger steak with red wine reduction sauce, since here the shallots and a hint of red wine came in the butter rather than as the usual ubiquitous sauce. The potatoes were delicious, soft with a clear taste of the onions, herbs, and stock it had been cooked in. This was probably the most quintessentially French part of the meal and I totally devoured them. The steak was also flavorful but not much different from a good bistro hanger steak besides the unique butter.

For dessert, we had the coffee cremeux with Marsala sabayon and the contemporary pina colada with coconut-tapioca sauce. The coffee cremeux was beautifully presented but way too rich for my liking. The “pina colada” was a diced fresh fruit salad with fresh mango, pineapple, papaya, and kiwi along with a scoop of mango sorbet on top and coconut tapioca balls throughout. This wasn’t French, it was straight out of a South Florida restaurant and it was really really refreshing. Not only was it an interesting take on a pina colada but we could’ve eaten a few bowls of the fruit salad and mango sorbet.

Coffee Cremeux

All in all I’m mixed about Adour. In the context of restaurant week, this was an incredible meal and I absolutely suggest it. For $25, we were served and ate like kings and everything we ate save the sabayon and chestnuts was good. On the other hand, I’ve had similar dishes at plenty of other restaurants in DC and many we’re just as good. The main dishes were really flavorful, savory, and fulfilling, but the desserts were hit or miss and the appetizers were more refreshing than flavorful. Delicious, but there were some mistakes. Either way, Adour is definitely not why Alain Ducasse is so revered.

Now here comes the obvious disclosure. I only tried the restaurant week menu so this is far from a complete review. Yes, some of these dishes are on the regular menu but so are probably 15 other items and I didn’t try any of them. As for the foods I ate, it was refreshing and comforting to have such distinctly American tastes infused with French food, but that alone doesn’t warrant a visit. Eating the meal I did for $25 or even for $50 I’d be thrilled, but that exact same meal (without liquor) would be closer to $75-$100+ per person on normal nights, and that price is much harder to justify. 

Send your thoughts and if anyone’s been to Adour for their regular menu please let me know how it compares.