Cosmopolitan chefs are turning to the 5,000-year-old practice of pickling – preserving a food by soaking and storing it in vinegar or brine – to add piquant, seasonal accents to their dishes. Here are some notable local takes on the trend.
CommonWealth: At this new Brit-inspired restaurant in Columbia Heights, every table sports a mason jar of housemade piccalilli – the ubiquitous vegetable relish found in every English pub. Chef-owner Jamie Leeds crafts her own colorful version using cauliflower, carrots, beans and red peppers, and also makes cucumber pickles to accompany the cured meats. As an amuse bouche, she's sending out pickled baby beets.
Johnny’s Half Shell: Chef Ann Cashion accents her popular fried oysters, the pork ribs and even her spinach salad with the sour/sweet/salty flavors of brined vegetables, noting that in her native Mississippi, "there were always plenty of pickles on the table." She cans tomatoes and makes kosher dills (for the housemade hot dog relish) to "extend summer produce through the seasons.”
Cork: Pickled seasonal produce (currently cauliflower and peppers) offers a crunchy acidic balance to chef Ron Tanaka’s lush grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich topped with an organic egg. He hopes to start pickling zucchini and peppers for use on the fall and winter menus at this Logan Circle wine bar.
– Olga Boikess