DC James Beard Award Semi-Finalists Are Mostly Accessible Restaurants

The James Beard Foundation announced their list of semifinalists today for the 2010 James Beard Awards, the most prestigious food awards out there. I wrote about the semi-finalists and then finalists last year, here and here, and if you compare this years list to last, there are a lot of reappearances locally - so hopefully some will break through this time.

The local semifinalists are:

Outstanding Restaurateur: Ashok Bajaj (701, Ardeo, Bardeo, Bibiana, Bombay Club, Oval Room, Rasika)
Outstanding Chef: José Andrés (for Minibar)
Outstanding Restaurant: Vidalia
Rising Star Chef Of The Year: Johnny Monis (Komi)
Best New Restaurant: Eventide, J&G Steakhouse, Trummer's On Main
Outstanding Pastry Chef: Amanda Cook (CityZen)
Outstanding Wine Service: Restaurant Eve
Outstanding Wine And Spirits Program: Derek Brown (The Passenger)
Outstanding Service: Marcel's
Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic: Cathal Armstrong (Restaurant Eve), Tony Conte (The Oval Room), Peter Pastan (Obelisk), Vikram Sunderam (Rasika), Bryan Voltaggio (Volt)

My initial reaction is that a number of these restaurants are accessible to the public, and that is a great thing. Ashok Bajaj's restaurants might not be cheap but they aren't cost-prohibitive (except maybe 701), and most all of them are excellent. Especially Rasika.

Aside from restaurateur of the year, a number of the chefs and restaurants nominated have more casual bar or cafe dining options, making some of DC's best spots accessible to diners without spending a ton. The bar at Vidalia (nominated for restaurant of the year) is a great option, offering their iconic shrimp n grits and a delicious cheeseburger (Roughly $15 each I believe), in addition to free bite-size appetizers and even free wine tastings during happy hour.

CityZen, home to one of my best 2 meals in DC last year, has a bar menu for (Three courses for $50) which is way more reasonable than the dining room or tasting menus. Restaurant Eve has a bistro and lounge in addition to the more formal expensive dining room, and while Rasika doesn't have a special menu that I'm aware of, it won't cost you an arm and a leg (and is completely worth it).

As for the libations, Derek Brown's Passenger is absolutely worth trying. The drinks are not cheap (Roughly $13 a piece), but if for only one drink it is worth the trip. If you're looking for a more exclusive and involved experience, try his other bar, the speakeasy The Gibson. I wrote a post about it here.

Read Meat Turns 1 - A Recap of the Year in Food and a Look Forward to the Next

With Read Meat celebrating it’s first birthday yesterday, I thought it would be fun to recap my favorites of the past year, look forward to the next, and voice what I hope to see more of in DC. It’s hardly encompassing, but here are some trends, ideas, dishes, restaurants, concepts, and more that caught my eye:

Favorite New Food Trend - Olive Oil Ice Cream

This latest ice cream flavor is just starting to pop up on dessert menus and it’s pretty unbelievable. As you’d expect with an ingredient like olive oil, this dessert doesn’t strive to be the world’s strongest flavored, but it quickly redefines your notion of “light and refreshing.” I first had the ice cream this year in New York at Mario Batali’s pizza place, Otto, along with creme fraiche ice cream. Then, I was lucky enough to have the tasting menu at CityZen recently, and it appeared as a dessert amuse bouche. I haven’t seen it elsewhere in DC yet but I hope others are serving it, or will be soon...





Worst New Trend - Supermarkets Charging for Bags

Give me a break, we aren’t taxed enough already?

Memorable Dish of the Year –

 Curry Spiced Duck Breast

Sadly my most memorable dish of the year did not come in DC but rather at New York’s Gotham Bar & Grill. Either way, Gotham’s curry spiced duck literally had me giggling like a school girl as I devoured it. I mean how often do you eat foods that are so delicious that you have to stop and laugh because you can't believe it is THAT good.

Well, it was. It was that savory, that well rounded, and the flavors worked that well together. I've never seen distinctly Indian flavors used so appropriately and artfully in another cuisine. Coupled with a masala duck sauce and toasted cashew and apricot chutney, the muscovy duck breast hit every flavor I hoped for and yet was so fantastically balanced throughout. My highlight of the year.

Memorable DC Dish - Chile En Nogada

Many of the small plates at Oyamel are fantastic but the roasted stuffed poblano pepper takes the cake. Inside the pepper: Ground pork, plantain, and tomato. On Top: A creamy sauce of walnuts, goat cheese and sherry topped with fresh pomegranate seeds.

Savory. Incredibly Flavorful. Surprisingly light and well rounded. Sadly, it's only available in the winter and spring when fresh pomegranates are available.




Favorite Restaurant Addition - 
Posto

The sister restaurant to Ristorante Tosca, Posto wields a variety of delicious pizzas, pastas and entrees - in a relaxed setting with prices that aren't prohibitively expensive. The Bismarck pizza ($14), with mozzarella, ricotta, spinach and a cracked egg on top, is a highlight. So are most every pasta as well as the fabulously tender braised veal cheeks ($21), served in three large lumps above garlic mashed potatoes and below sauteed spinach. Disclaimer: This is slightly cheating - Posto opened just under a month before Read Meat started.

Favorite Bar Addition - ChurchKey

A tough decision since The Gibson, which arrived this year, provides an entirely unique drinking and social experience, but one that is mostly reserved just for special occasions. ChurchKey, on the other hand, is worth the trip anytime, and it can actually be enjoyed most any day or occasion.

The nearly three-month-old restaurant has a unique and massive selection of beers (over 550 with over 50 on tap), tasty and reasonably priced gastro-pub fare, and has an attractive scene with a sleek and seemingly endlessly long bar.

Favorite Restaurant of the Year- Palena Café

There's too much to say and little chance I'll do it justice so I'm going to keep it short and sweet. Palena is hardly new and with less than 10 tables and no reservations in the cafe, it is a serious pain to get in, but when you do it is routinely fantastic. There is little fine-dining food as good as Palena in DC, but there are absolutely no places providing those same exact dishes for incredibly reasonable prices like the Cafe does.

You can keep it casual with a fry plate for $11 that includes french fries, onion rings, potatoes and fried lemon wedges along with a heavenly cheeseburger ($13) or with the best roast half-chicken ($14) in the city.

Or you can have, in my opinion, the best pastas in town. Between the hare ragu pappardelle, the lightest gnocchi in town, or an incredibly robust and soulful oxtail ragu with pasta. They are all so flavorful and so refined, yet cost roughly $13 a plate.

Nothing beats it.

I'd Like to see more of in the next year:
...

Signature Breads

Washington is notoriously bad for bread. After all, one of the city’s most popular delis, Taylor Gourmet, ships their bread in daily from Philadelphia. Yes, they actually go to Philadelphia to get good rolls.

The few restaurants around town that create signature breads and are wildly popular for them, think BLT Steak’s gruyere popover, Bourbon Steak’s skillet rolls with truffle oil and CityZen’s parker house rolls. And it’s not a particularly expensive undertaking - its bread. So If I were opening a restaurant in 2010, I’d make sure we served signature bread. It provides diners with a tasty and easy memorable part of the meal, even if the rest is underwhelming. Unbelievably, people absolutely are often inclined to head to those restaurants thanks to these memorable starters… go figure; some people choose a $100 per person meal based on their signature bread. When will other restaurants catch on…

Local Steakhouses

Washington has no shortage of chain steakhouses. The current list includes 5 Morton’s, 5 Ruth’s Chris’, 3 Capital Grilles, the Palm, Smith & Wollensky and chain celebrity-steakhouses including Laurent Tourendel’s BLT Steak, Charlie Palmer’s eponymously named steakhouse and two newcomers this year: Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s J&G Steakhouse and Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak, which I wrote a lengthy review of earlier this year.

With a blog titled Read Meat, clearly I am a fan of steakhouses and always welcome more diversity. Yet, with all of the choices, precious few are locally owned. While most every other restaurant in town is considerably enhanced thanks to a head chef in the kitchen and an owner who actually tends to their restaurant, we don’t expect or demand the same kind of care from our steakhouses. Maybe most ridiculous, many diners actually believe that the celebrity chefs behind all the new celebrity steakhouses actually have something meaningful to do with the restaurant. Visiting once every few months for a weekend hardly constitutes a meaningful influence or level of attention.

So my hope for the next year is that more restaurateurs take a page out of Michael Landrum’s book (Rays the Steaks etc) and take a stab at creating a local steakhouse. Clearly the meat-eating steakhouse-loving clientele is here, why can’t we get some more local flavor?

Good Chinese

I could write 50 words or 5,000 words on this, so I’ll opt for 50. The city could use better Chinese food. Better upscale, better take-out, better Americanized, better traditional and more. I am hard pressed to think of more than a handful of Chinese places here I actually enjoy.

Life of a food critic

There's a fascinating story in Saturday's Washington Post about the Post's food critic, Tom Sietsema (pronounced Seets-ma).

Aside from a schedule of constant eating (which is fun until you HAVE to eat rather than want to), I was particularly impressed by the Mossad-like obsession with ensuring anonymity:

To ensure he doesn't get special treatment, Sietsema is obsessive about anonymity. He's used elaborate disguises in elite restaurants such as the District's Citronelle and the Inn at Little Washington in Virginia. He has a dozen aliases and sometimes feigns a foreign accent. Concerned about restaurants using caller ID, he may have friends make the reservation. He has nine credits cards with different names so restaurants can't identify him through receipts. Sometimes he pays cash. He even took acting lessons to alter his physical demeanor. It can help, he said, because "people get used to seeing you in a certain way."

James Bond's got nothing on him.

Full story is worth the read.

Read Meat Returns

Happy Independence Day everyone! 

I've taken about two months off from the blog to get my feet set in my new job, but as of this 4th of July, I'm resuming my writing at Read Meat. 

I envision Read Meat to be slightly different from how it was a few months ago. The style of writing (casual/in my voice) will likely stay the same, but topics will be slightly altered. It will still include some restaurant reviews, but there will be a greater focus on cooking - recipes, tips, stories of success/disaster (expect more of the latter) and any other number of things I pick up cooking and eating. 

In this light, a lot of the writing will be focused on self-teaching oneself how to cook and eat. I know, everyone should be oh so proud when you learn to eat! But what I mean here is learning a palette for how foods should taste, what flavors work well together, how to make those restaurant quality dishes and the list goes on... 

As someone that's done both on my own (Not that my mother wasn't a good cook, I just never took an interest in cooking until I was in college), I've learned to cook and eat through a number of mediums - Food TV, the internet, magazines, travel and more. So a lot of the posts (recipes or otherwise) will come from tips and tools I've picked up from shows those similar mediums. You'd be shocked just how much you can learn about food from just an hour of Cook's Country or Jacques Pepin. 

So with all that in mind, I'm doing a good bit of cooking today for the 4th. I set the menu and will be cooking for my friend Todd's party tonight,  with the caveat that all food had to be finger foods. Everything has to be prepared on the grill, which is somewhat foreign to me, but I'm excited nonetheless and will be posting recipes, pictures and more on the blog. 

Here's what the menu looks like now:

Roasted Garlic hummus with a vegetable spread and baked pita bread. 

Mini Choripan (Argentinian Hot Dog) 

Mini Burgers with a Sharp Cheddar

Short Ribs and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on Sourdough with red onions

And my friend Anne is making the dessert, mini cupcakes with red, white and blue icing (Duh), which I'm sure will be delicious. 

Stay tuned

Another celebrity chef's steakhouse is coming to DC

After literally just reviewing the last celebrity steakhouse to hit DC, there’s news of the next one on its way. Jean-Georges Vongerichten, a legitimately world-renowned chef, has chosen DC for his next restaurant: J&G Steakhouse, the second of this kind. Like Bourbon Steak, it will be stationed in a re-modeled swanky hotel, the W Hotel, in the former Hotel Washington space. Hopefully it’ll be more memorable than the last chef of his stature to open shop in DC, Alain Ducaisse with Adour.

Here are a few reasons I’m optimistic and excited about J&G. First, Jean-Georges can masterfully cook just about any cuisine, but he’s really known for bringing Asian influences and spices into other forms of cooking. His flagship restaurant, the eponymous Jean Georges, ties Asian and French flavors together and it’s supposed to be one hell of a restaurant - recently ranked the 19th best restaurant in the world. I have no idea what direction he’ll take J&G, but an Asian-influenced American steakhouse would be a really different and exciting addition.

If his other J&G Steakhouse is any indication, there won’t be much Asian influence but the concept of less is more is likely to prevail. His other J&G, in the Phoenician Hotel in Scottsdale, features a number of quality steaks at surprisingly normal prices: filet mignon for $28, NY strip for $30 and hanger steak frites for only $18 (Maybe my single favorite dish on earth). Prices like that would clearly differentiate them from rivals and would put J&G in contention with Ray's the Steaks for ownership of the mid-priced steakhouse market that Ray’s currently dominates.

And finally, if my one experience at a Jean-Georges restaurant is any indication, we’re in for a show. My meal at his Vegas steakhouse, Prime, was one of the more memorable of my life, in possibly the most luxurious room I’ve ever eaten in.

Vongerichten's Prime Steakhouse in the Bellagio Hotel

Now I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a few hesitations as well. On the one hand, I’m thrilled that a number of refined steakhouses have come to DC, providing a very welcome change in food and scene from the mega chains like Mortons, Ruths Chris et al (although I do love the dry-aged strip at cap grille). But the problem with these new celeb-steakhouses is they aren’t actually manned by the chef’s whose names adorn them, so they are hardly local restaurants. In fact, the locally-owned-and-run steakhouse scene is pretty small: Ray's the Steaks, Sam and Harry’s, the Caucus Room, and then ?. Given how badly local restaurants have it in these economic times coupled with the influx of new steakhouses, it’s really important to remember and support the local spots.

Then again, maybe I should just shut up and be happy more steak is on the way.

Bourdain's DC deleted scene

You might remember Anthony Bourdain's DC episode that aired earlier this year. But turns out they also filmed a scene at the authentic Irish pub, Eammon's, in Alexandria. 

Check out the scene here.

A post on Bourbon steak should be out either tonight or tomorrow, and I'll be writing more frequently soon.

Wawa celebrates 45 years

Wawa, one of the all-time great convenience stores is celebrating their 45th anniversary today. Being from Philly, I grew up with Wawas as a near-daily part of my life. If you’ve never lived near a Wawa, they’re hard to appreciate and easy to marginalize, since after all it’s hard to imagine a convenience store as anything special. But that would be a huge mistake, trust me.

I seldom meet people who live without Wawas that can, for the life of them, figure out why people are so devoted, and yet almost everyone I know near a Wawa raves and raves and raves about them. Fortunately, I did, so I do. Sadly I also know the flipside, having been Wawa-less for the last six years in DC and I’m still feeling the pain. Seriously though, imagine this:

You have a coffee shop with large varieties of coffee and coffee drinks that are legitimately good and are dirt cheap (About $1) without the long waits since it’s self-serve.

And there’s a sandwich store you love with a large variety of cold cuts, hot sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, cheesesteaks and more - each customized exactly to your liking through a touch-screen ordering system, all for about $4 or $5.

There’s that go-to place for your cheap snacking needs: fresh Philly pretzels (.25 each), bagels and donuts, Icee’s, and a large selection of cold teas, fruit juices and more - for far less than supermarket prices.

And there’s the nearby store with get basic eating and living essentials without the long lines and size of a supermarket.

Now put them all together and place it around the corner. That’s the magic of Wawa. And that description hardly does it justice.

Yes, you can go to Dunkin Donuts for good cheap coffee, although Wawa’s cheaper. You can always head to Potbellys for cheap customizable sandwiches, although their choices are fewer, sandwiches are smaller and lines are longer. And of course you can head to 7-11 for basic living essentials, but it’s hardly a beacon of cleanliness. But even then, at least three trips are required - as opposed to just one to Wawa, for similar or better quality. Don’t get me wrong, none of their products are out of the ordinary or worth mentioning in great food discussions, but it’s always reliable and good. And of course, it’s open 24 hours a day so your late night cravings are solved too.

Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer has an article on how Wawa became and stayed a success, 45 years later. Congratulations on 45 years and PLEASE open stores in Washington already!

Thai Restaurant Week

I didn't post the last week and I probably should've. With terrible passover food on my mind I could've easily written about it, yet I found it difficult/pointless in writing an entire post around "matzoh sucks, eat red meat instead." I think any self-respecting passover-keeping eater already knew that eschewing matzoh and focusing on meat and vegetables is the way to survive.

And I probably should've written about the Top Chef Masters announcement last week, which essentially created a celebrity chef themed Top Chef show. Not surprisingly, they included zero DC chefs and only one mid-Atlantic chef, from Alma de Cuba in Philly. The truth is there are a whole group of DC-area chefs that easily could've made the cut but it's not worth going into who and why... hence I didn't write.

But here's something worth posting: this is a good week for food in DC - it's Thai restaurant week! The Thai embassy organized their second annual celebration of Songkran, the Thai New Year. That means participating thai restaurants have deals all week. Deals vary between restaurants but if you are in the mood for Thai food (who isn't in the mood for pad thai?) this is a good time for it. 

The list of participating restaurants is here, if you try any let me know your experience. 

I'll be posting a few later this week. Coming posts include: the recently opened Bourbon Steak, Palena, one or two yogurt shops and a recipe or two. 

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.

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.

James Beard Awards honor Washington with 13 nominations

The James Beard Awards semifinalists were announced today and Washington has a lot to celebrate. Often thought of as the Oscars of food, the James Beard Awards celebrate both restaurants and individuals at the pinnacle of cooking and restauranteuring, with both national and regional awards spanning the spectrum of dining experiences. With seven national and six regional nominations, DC is likely to have a few winners, not just nominees.

DC restaurants received national nominations for outstanding chef, outstanding new restaurant, rising chef of the year, and TWO nominations for outstanding restaurant – Kinkead’s and Vidalia.

A number of these restaurants are participating in restaurant week, so check out Opentable and if you’re lucky you might still be able to grab a table and judge for yourself. In the coming weeks I’m going to post reviews of the nominated restaurants (that I’ve eaten at), but for now below are the nominees from Washington, DC. Click here for a list of all nominees.

NATIONAL

Outstanding Chef: José Andrés of Minibar

Outstanding Restaurant: Kinkead’s
Vidalia

Outstanding New Restaurant: Cork

Rising Star Chef of the Year: Jonny Monis of Komi

Outstanding Restauranteur: Ashok Bajaj (The Oval Room, The Bombay Club, Ardeo, Bardeo, 701, and Rasika)

Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional: Todd Trasher of Restaurant Eve


REGIONAL

Best Chef Mid-Atlantic:

Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve

Anthony Chittum of Vermilion

Haidar Karoum of Proof

Peter Pastan of Obelisk

Tom Power of Corduroy

Vikram Sunderam of Rasika

Aioli, Biryani, Café Trope close; Saigon Bistro opens in Dupont

Three, restaurants on one block in Dupont (P St. btwn 21st and 22nd) closed this month, showing just how badly the recession is hitting the restaurant industry. Just after New Years Aioli Meditalian gourmet shut it’s doors and now just this week the same fate met Café Trope and Biryani Corner. Here’s the (obvious) bad news: the economic downturn’s hurting the restaurant business in a very tangible way, and newer places are being hit especially hard since all three had been open less than a year and a half. Here’s the good news: a couple of overrated restaurants are gone now and better places are already coming in to fill the void.

I never went to Café Trope but I’ve eaten at both Aioli and Biryani and both were underwhelming. Biryani was a takeout Indian counter, which replaced Naan and Beyond a year ago and never even came close to filling Naans shoes. It’s not as if you expect much with takeout Indian, but on my last trip there I ordered the chicken tikka sandwich (wrapped in naan) and received chicken that hadn’t been marinated, alongside peppers and onions making for the first Indian chicken fajitas ever created. Enough said.

Aioli, on the other hand, was gourmet Italian takeout with a few tables in house. The food was reasonably tasty but also incredibly overpriced along with a generally unfriendly staff. More than anything else, I think Aioli was a case of a restaurant simply not understanding their customers. They could have garnered a very sizeable lunch business in Dupont but that never happened since they charged $13-$16 for takeout pastas and never offered lunch deals or lunch portioned sizes. They styled themselves (and charged) as a nice Italian restaurant, but in essence they were just takeout. I understand paying higher prices when being served at a restaurant, but Aioli had all of ten tables throughout the room, staffed by one waitress who was also the cashier. That’s not a restaurant, that’s takeout with some tables to sit at. The food was reasonably good but it was never worth the price, especially in an area where you can get wonderful pastas for little more money.

Now the good news… Within three days of Aioli closing, a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Bistro had already opened. I’m actually not exaggerating when I say for being three days in, it was really impressive. Their tables are filled, they actually have waiters, and their prices for entrees are mostly just under $10, with many options for less.

I have a cursory (at best) understanding of Vietnamese cuisine so I can't judge authenticity, but I was satisfied after visiting. The manager was behind the counter taking orders and could not have been more welcoming or helpful in selecting dishes. I ordered pork spring rolls, Vietnamese chicken pad thai, and a specialty soup called Pho Dac Biet (pictured at top). The spring rolls were light and crunchy while the chicken pad thai was fiery hot with chili pepper flakes sprinkled in - so don't expect Thai style pad thai here. The Pho Dac Biet soup was also a highlight. The soup was a mix of three meats: sliced rare beef, brisket, and tripe. The tripe was the highlight and the rare beef was good too, but the brisket could use some work, it was needlessly tough. It also had thin asian noodles, sprouts, a number of fresh herbs, and the normal accompaniments - sweet and fiery sauces. 

Saigon seems to have already gotten their act together, with some luck the crowds will sustain and they’ll be able to stick around. As for the other locations, hopefully they’ll be filled soon but I think that’s doubtful in this economy, especially Café Trope’s space.

Saigon Bistro

2153 P Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20037

http://saigonbistrodc.com

Clearly it's not the Olympics...

The Americans didn't win.

The Norwegians won gold at the Bocuse d'Or, read about it here.

The Olympics of Cooking

Imagine this:

Contestants must prepare 12 portions of both a meat and a fish dish in 5 hours and 35 minutes in small, identical, kitchen cubicles with picture windows that face an audience of more than 1,000 cheering, flag-waving, bell-ringing, foot-stomping, anthem-singing spectators.

No, that’s not a joke. That’s an excerpt from yesterday’s New York Times about the Bocuse d’Or competition, the Olympics of cooking, and it’s real and starting today. The yearly competition held in Lyon, France, pits chefs from 24 countries against each other vying for gold, silver, and bronze– in this case a statue of the competitions founder, Paul Bocuse (Statue pictured to the right). Who knew patriotism would come to cooking!

Sadly the Americans have not faired well in the 18-year competition, but they are correcting that. Paul Bocuse, the French chef and founder and namesake of the competition, was actually quite disturbed the Americans have never placed better than sixth before and has been determined to change that. He convinced Thomas Keller (the best chef in America) to be the President of our team. Keller’s sous chef at The French Laundry, Timothy Hollingsworth, won the U.S. trials and is the chef for the Americans.

Chef Thomas Keller in the kitchen

There are a million ridiculous (and hilarious) rules, but all the chefs are 

working with the same basic proteins: a whole Norwegian cod, Norwegian scallop

s, and Norwegian prawns for the fish dish; and a Scottish beef filet, whole oxtail, beef cheeks, and ribs for the meat dish. (More details here and here)

 

Whole Norwegian prawns used in the seafood dish

Seriously though, how cool does this sound? Thousands of fans cheering on their country while announcers give play-by-play commentary of conditions “in the kitchen,” and the winner is given a gold chef statue. I don’t know about you, but I’m seriously entertained (and pumped) by this, and frankly I don’t think I’m alone.

I’m actually a little surprised this isn’t televised in the U.S. yet, I think there would be huge interest. If Iron Chef can get big ratings then a cooking competition where Americans can root for their country would certainly be a hit. Seeing as bobsledding was on national TV twice this past weekend, there should definitely be room for the Olympics of Cooking. Seriously though, it could take on an almost cult-like following for a few days each year, just like what curling does during the Olympics.

For those who are as entertained as I am and want to keep up, the New York Times is liveblogging the competition, and yes there are already screaming fans and drama!

Stay tuned... the Americans cook tomorrow, Go America!

DC Restaurant week is back!

Two of the year’s best weeks are when Washingtonians can eat their hearts out (err, mostly dine on smaller portions) at some of the best restaurants in the area – at considerably reduced rates. Well, that’s coming up soon – February 16th-22nd.

With both eaters and restaurateurs hurting considerably in the wallet this year, restaurant week could not have come soon enough. This restaurant week, the 14th in DC’s history, includes almost 180 participating restaurants, so there is ample variety to choose from – but only one price range! This year’s festivities will cost diners $20.09 for lunch and $35.09 for dinner, for a three-course price-fixed meal.

When picking the right restaurant week destination, there are a number of factors I usually consider:

Accessibility – Diners often choose a restaurant they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. In part, this is the purpose of restaurant week since it makes the DC dining scene accessible at a manageable level. However, the problem here is that the most expensive (participating) restaurants are often the most popular, filling up very quickly. So go on opentable now and reserve before your restaurant is sold out!

Menu – Some restaurants offer “special” restaurant week menus, those should be avoided. If I’m eating at a restaurant this week, I want to eat the same food they usually offer. If the food was better on a “special” menu, it would be part of the regular menu – there’s a reason the dish is only on a reduced price menu.

Size – One of the main gripes people have with restaurant week is that the dishes are way too small. It’s true that some restaurants serve smaller versions of their normal menu, however, many restaurants don’t. For example, Chef Geoff’s serves their full size entrees and appetizers, just at a greatly reduced price. There’s no foolproof way of knowing what each restaurant does, but common sense usually works here. Don’t expect large portions from the most expensive spots in town, and don’t go to one of the steakhouses expecting a 20-ounce NY strip – you will surely leave disappointed.

Regular Deals – The last thing I usually consider in picking a restaurant is what specials/deals they usually offer. Many restaurants extend their restaurant week menus for weeks or even months longer, so you don’t necessarily need to visit during restaurant week. For example, Dino offers restaurant week style menus year round (Sun-Thurs) as well as great wine specials during the week. Surely the food at Dino will be wonderful during restaurant week, but you can get the same or a better deal anytime through the year.

My favorite restaurant week experiences all came at restaurants I’d not previously visited, possibly because I didn’t know what to expect. My favorite probably was at PS7 (now a restaurant I frequent often), which during restaurant week offers an ambitious menu with numerous options and full size portions. They also have wine and drink specials for restaurant week. A few places I’ve had less than satisfying restaurant week meals at include Smith & Wollensky’s and the Oval Room – both of which served extraordinarily small portions.

For other restaurant week details, DC Foodies has a full list of past restaurant week menus and Capital Spice has a map up of all this year’s participating restaurants.

Anthony Bourdain comes to Washington

Tony Bourdain’s show No Reservations is profiling DC in its newest episode, airing this Monday at 9pm. The show’s preview included considerable footage with star chef Jose Andres but few other details. Having watched his show enough, it’s not surprising he picked Jose Andres to be the chef profiled (certainly wouldn’t have been Michel Richard). But given his obsession with innovative, unique, and off the beaten path restaurants, I’ll be really disappointed if he ends up at Zaytinya or Jaleo since they could be the two most visited spots in the city.

I’m also interested to see if he ends up at Ben’s Chili Bowl, since it has the history and food Bourdain likes but is already a celebrity-like establishment. Granville Moore’s, Rays the Steaks, Dino, and Komi all seem like his type of places to visit, but knowing his show, he’ll pick a far more random group to visit.

New York Times covers “real DC”

Yesterday’s Times featured an article titled “Chefs Settle Down in ‘the Real DC’” chronicling the rise of restaurants and bars in various gentrifying areas of Washington. I’m glad the subject of my first post, Granville Moore’s, was mentioned and given due credit.

The Times mentioned a number of fascinating places due to open, especially “Chef’s Table” on the Anacostia River. I’d be thrilled if a meat-and-three can make it in Washington, although Anacostia surely won’t get the Washington lunch crowd.

Read the whole article here.