Washington D.C.

Outtake of the Week

2009-11-06T22:53:00Z

It was good, but not nearly as good as the employees kept telling me.

Zengo Zen With Tequila

2009-11-06T22:42:00Z

Zengo

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Celebrity chef Richard Sandoval is hosting a four-course tequila themed dinner at Zengo on November 17. To illustrate the synergy of his Latin-Asian cuisine and Mexico’s agave-based spirit, a different Herradura brand tequila or margarita will be paired with the dishes. On the menu: habanero orange hamachi tiradito, seared bluefin tuna with pistachio pipian sauce, achiote- and tequila-braised short ribs and a Mexican chocolate tart with ancho tequila sauce (5–10 PM; $45 per person; 202-393-2929; reserve online reserve online).

Dining News Elsewhere: Obesity and Cancer, Bacon-Wrapped Matzoh Balls

2009-11-06T16:57:00Z

– A baguette dropped by a bird stopped the Large Hadron Collider. [Times]
– Linking obesity and cancer. [MSNBC]
– Scripps (which owns the Food Network) sets its sights on the Travel Channel. [EMD]

– Jamie Oliver, upholder of justice. [Telegraph]
– How wine became a "fast food." [Daily Beast]
– Daniel Boulud sets his sights on London. [Bloomberg]
– LA's Orso prepares for a final bow. [NYT]
– A long chat with Gordon Ramsay. [Telegraph]
– Not kosher: Ilan Hall's bacon-wrapped matzoh balls. [Jewish Journal]
– 7-Eleven gets ready to roll out its own wine. [MSNBC]
– Why Guinness can taste different in Ireland (and elsewhere). [Accidental Hedonist]
– Will laser etchings replace fruit and vegetable stickers? [Gizmodo]
– Portion sizes, then and now. [DivineCaroline]
– How exactly does Jell-O work? [BG]
– Meat, the fabric. [EMD]
– Cookie monster cupcakes love cookies. [Leila Cohan]

Celeb Chefs Cover the Market

2009-11-05T22:18:00Z

Central Michel Richard

Photo: Mimi Le

Though fine dining may have cooled off a little as a result of the past year’s economic turmoil, celeb chefs remain as popular as ever. And, fortunately, many of them have opened more casual concepts, allowing diners with tighter budgets to get a taste of their culinary vision. But how do these budget-minded sibs stack up against their high-end counterparts? Read up, and then add your own votes and opinions.

Michel Richard

French-born chef Michel Richard continues to please at the wildly popular Citronelle, but also excels with the more casual concept Central Michel Richard, giving comfort cuisine a high-end twist.

Citronelle

3000 M St. NW
(30th St.)
Washington, DC 20007
202-625-2150; reserve online

Food	Decor	Service	Cost
27	25	26	$104

“The ‘wow’ factor” endures as gustatory “wizard” Michel Richard continues to “work magic” at the Most Popular restaurant in the DC Survey, a “world-class” Georgetown New French where the “endlessly inventive”, “brilliantly executed” cuisine (paired with an “unmatched wine list”) makes for “culinary theater”; “flawless service” and a “posh” setting with a “glassed-in kitchen” encourage a “joyous” “celebration”, but be ready to “pay for perfection”; N.B. for a thriftier if less flashy sampler, try the lounge’s menu.

Key to Zagat Ratings

Central Michel Richard

1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
(11th St.)
Washington, DC 20004
202-626-0015; reserve online

Food	Decor	Service	Cost
25	25	22	$52

At Penn Quarter’s “‘it’” spot, all-star chef Michel Richard (Citronelle) lends his “signature cheeky style” and “culinary chops” to “haute cuisine packaged for everyone” via a “mouthwatering” New American–French lineup that’s billed as “comfort food gone upscale”; with its “informed” service and “smart” looks, it draws “daunting” crowds of bon vivants who exult in “vibrant” scenery, a “hot bar scene” and “super-high quality” that “doesn’t break the bank.”

Eric Ziebold

Known for his nuanced New American dishes at CityZen, Eric Ziebold's changes it up with new arrival Sou'Wester – comfortably bringing the South to DC.

CityZen

1330 Maryland Ave. SW
(12th St.)
Washington, DC 20024
202-787-6006; reserve online

Food	Decor	Service	Cost
28	27	27	$107

“Nothing is compromised” at this “luxurious” New American in the Mandarin Oriental, from the “magnificent”, “nuanced” tasting menus to the “gracious”, “unobtrusive service” to the “stunning” interior design that “defines modern elegance” with its “showcase open kitchen”; “amusing touches” like the “bite-size Parker House rolls” alone are “worth the trip” to “otherwise drab” SW, and it all comes together for a “phenomenal” “treat”; N.B. prix fixe meals (in the dining room or at the bar) start at $50 for three courses.

Key to Zagat Ratings

Sou'Wester

1330 Maryland Ave. SW
(12th St.)
Washington, DC 20024
202-787-6990

Food	Decor	Service	Cost
-	-	-	M

Taking over the former Café MoZU space in the Mandarin Oriental, this American arrival offers Chesapeake- and Southern-inspired fare, plus affordable lunchtime combinations; the handsome, tall-windowed space overlooking the waterfront features restrained farmhouse touches – bare wood tables, decorative jars of housemade preserves – as well as semi-curtained dining niches, an indoor ‘porch’ with rocking chairs and an outdoor patio.

Key to Zagat Ratings

Peter Pastan

Consistently wowing with a daily changing menu at Obelisk, Peter Pastan also manages impress with wood-fired pizzas at 2 Amy's.

Obelisk

2029 P St. NW
(bet. 20th & 21st Sts.)
Washington, DC 20036
202-872-1180

Food	Decor	Service	Cost
27	20	26	$85

It’s “still got it” cheer champions of this “top-flight” Dupont Circle “gem” where chef-owner Peter Pastan’s “heavenly prix fixe” “embraces Italian rusticity” with an “unforgettable” daily changing “parade” of “exquisite” dishes and “well-paired wines”; “irreproachable service” helps make it “everything a special night should be”, but the “unpretentious” townhouse space is “tiny”, so be sure to “make reservations.”

Key to Zagat Ratings

2 Amys

3715 Macomb St. NW
(Wisconsin Ave.)
Washington, DC 20016
202-885-5700

Food	Decor	Service	Cost
25	14	18	$24

Offering “phenomenal” wood-fired pies that are “certified” by the Naples pizza association, as well as “enticing” antipasti and “fantastic” wines, this “fast-paced” “favorite” in Cleveland Park proves that the “simple thrills of a perfect crust and fresh, authentic toppings” “trump everything else”, including “understated decor”, “crammed tables”, “long waits” and occasionally “spotty service”; it attracts “lots of families”, but “adults can take refuge in the bar area”, the “quieter” upstairs dining room (no strollers allowed) or the “nice” outdoor patio.

Key to Zagat Ratings

D'Acqua Docked

2009-11-05T20:09:00Z

As reported by the Washington Business Journal, Penn Quarter Italian fish specialist D’Acqua is closed. Chef-owner Enzo Febbraro is focusing his talents on Forno, his recently debuted pizza, pasta and grill destination in Ashburn, VA. D’Acqua Cafe, his casual panini concession inside the Verizon Center, remains open. Reportedly Febbraro declined to pay a steep rent increase for the fine-dining venture’s location and is looking for another DC restaurant space.

In other closing news, the Rock Creek location in Mazza Gallerie is now “Events by Rock Creek," and is available for private parties only. The original Bethesda location continues to serve health conscious lunches and dinners to the public.

Tasting Top Chefs

2009-11-04T22:26:00Z

Fabio wants to enrich your malfatti with duck confit

Photo: courtesy of Bravo TV

Top Chef fans who yearn to taste the cooking of contenders Fabio Viviani, Carla Hall and CJ Jacobson will get their chance at the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner held on November 11 at the Mayflower Hotel. While there won’t be any Quickfire or Elimination contests, each of the former contestants will contribute one of the canapés and one of the courses of the seated dinner. CJ will infuse panna cotta with foie gras; Fabio will enrich malfatti with duck confit; and Carla will cook rockfish in papillote. The hotel’s executive chef, Abdellah Aguenaou, will prepare a fourth course of short ribs, and collaborate with Carla on a Middle Eastern–style dessert. There will also be Stella Artois beer, as well as wine pairings (7 PM; $175 per person; for tickets and information go to www.celebritycheftour.com).

Dining News Elsewhere: An Illy Invasion, Iron Chef in the White House

2009-11-04T17:12:00Z

– Illy is making inroads into U.S. coffee shops. [WSJ]
– Gordon Ramsay is planning to bring the popular MasterChef to the U.S. [THR]
– Sam Kass: assistant White House chef, policy wonk. [NYT]

– Related: Iron Chef America heads to the White House. [NYT]
– After 17 years, Jean-Georges is shutting down Vong. Though maybe not for long? [Eater]
– Learning to compost in Chicago's public schools. [Chicago Tribune]
– More on the affect of calorie counts on menus. [NYT]
– The Kogi Truck folks in LA have their own custom car now. [Mouthing Off]
– Kids menus should grow up. [BG]
– What does your beer choice say about you? [AdAge]
– Yellow Tail isn't the only Aussie wine, y'know. [WSJ]
– One 225,000-ton ship, more than 24 dining options. [EMD]
– Grant Achatz stands sternly in front of an airplane. [GS:C]
– Is it a steak house or a gay bar? [SteakHouseorGayBar]

Mac 'n' Cheese Five Ways

2009-11-03T23:18:00Z

Mac ‘n’ cheese has become the "it" comfort food on virtually every menu in town. It’s given class with artisan cheese (Vidalia; $9, $18.50 with truffles); dressed up with lobster (Nage; $18 at lunch only); and enriched with pork belly (Maple Ave; $7, plus $1 for pork belly). Still we can count on chef Michel Richard to take decadent deliciousness to new levels of cholesterol. The MACUBE ($12), offered in Citronelle’s lounge, is a stack of crispy, fried cubes of cheesy, truffled pasta niblets – served with a dipping sauce of, yes, more cheese. Meanwhile, the hot new Churchkey on trendy 14th Street NW, is serving fried mac 'n' cheese sticks with garlic breadcrumbs and tomato relish, which sounds like a good match for its stupendous beer selection.

Champers for a Cause

2009-11-02T16:20:00Z

The Tour de Champagne pops into DC's Ritz-Carlton on November 6, filling glasses with more than 50 different bubblies from Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger and other prestigious names. Et Voila, Inox and Westend Bistro are among the restaurants that will dish up their specialties at this walk-around gala, while guests scope out the silent auction benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. VIP ticket-holders can also attend “Fin de Soirée,” an after-party with desserts, cognac, music and more champagne (7–10 PM; Fin de Soirée, 9:30–11:30 PM; general admission $115; VIP $150; for information and tickets, go to www.tourdechampagne.com).

Cooking With Coco

2009-11-02T16:15:00Z

David Chang's pork neck with succotash

Photo and recipe: courtesy of Phaidon Press

For its latest cookbook, Coco, Phaidon Press turned to 10 world-leading chefs – Ferran Adrià, Mario Batali, Shannon Bennett, Alain Ducasse, Fergus Henderson, Yoshihiro Murata, Gordon Ramsay, René Redzepi, Alice Waters and Jacky Yu – to each pick 10 contemporary chefs from around the world. In turn, each of those chefs then wrote a menu and recipes for the book. The final product is more than 400 pages of gorgeous photographs, mouthwatering recipes and interesting tidbits from kitchens around the world. Want a taste? After the jump, get the recipe for pork neck with succotash from New York chef David Chang (of the Momofuku empire).

Pork Neck with Succotash
Serves 4
Recipe by David Chang

For the pork neck
300 g kosher salt
270 g sugar
6 liters hot water
2 bay leaves
25 g black peppercorns
6 liters cold water
10 g pink salt
1 pork neck

Mix the salt, sugar, hot water, bay leaves, and black peppercorns.
Mix the cold water with the pink salt.
Add the pork neck and confit 5 hours at 300°F (150°C) covered.
When tender, press between 2 sheet trays. Portion into serving size pieces.
Crisp on a griddle or pan to heat through.

For the succotash
100 g ground (minced) smoked, think-cut pork belly
12 g chanterelle mushrooms
250 g lima (butter) beans
175 g corn (sweetcorn) kernels
Butter for sautéing
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
4 ml buttermilk
120 g butter
130 g arugula (rocket)

Sauté the pork belly, chanterelles, lima beans, and corn in a pan.
Finish with a pinch of salt and pepper, chopped tarragon, buttermilk, butter, and arugula.

Dining News Elsewhere: PBR For Sale, Wading Into the Tip Pool

2009-11-02T15:44:00Z

– Talking with the troubled Ciprianis. [Vanity Fair]
– The brewery behind PBR and Schlitz is for sale. [NYP]
– Restaurants seek to better manage tip pools. [NRN]

– Western foods are gaining in China. [ABC]
– Where have all the Angostura bitters gone? [Bostonist]
– Who gets all of those 7 PM reservations, anyway? [Between Meals]
– The last days of Gourmet. [Last Days of Gourmet]
– Nation's Restaurant News to go biweekly. [Food Writer's Diary]
– Who needs to tip when you can buy the chef a beer? [GS:C]
– 222.5 pounds? Now that's a big meatball. [MSNBC]
– Could you eat 78 pieces of cutlery? Would you? [Daily Mail, via EMD]
– The manually operated hamburger vending machine. [JapanProbe]

Outtake of the Week

2009-10-30T22:02:00Z

A bit out of the way and not worth finding.

ANTHR BGR

2009-10-30T20:03:00Z

Pop Rocks get a shout-out at the new BGR

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

BGR The Burger Joint’s eagerly awaited Dupont Circle outlet opens Monday. The counter-serve setting is done up in psychedelic rock ’n’ roll decor with distressed brick walls painted electric blue and arty inlaid tabletops displaying pop-culture brands. In addition to the expected specialty burgers, shakes and fries (Yukon gold and sweet potato), grilled asparagus is offered at this location, possibly to assuage the guilt of customers waylaid by tempting burger smells on their way to Sweetgreen, the salad bar next door (1514 Connecticut Ave., NW; 202-299-1071).

Dining News Elsewhere: Menu Labeling Goes National, No More Kitchen Nightmares

2009-10-30T15:52:00Z

– Menu labeling hops onto health-care reform. [NRN]
– 2009 had the worst honey crop on record. [Daily Green, via GS:C]
– Not with a bang, but a whimper. Ramsay kills Kitchen Nightmares. [The Sun]

– The return of the milkman. [WSJ]
– Restaurants look to Halloween for a boost. [NRN]
– The White House garden, by the numbers. [Obama Foodorama]
– Europe's eel population is slipping away. [WSJ]
– Costco is getting ready to accept food stamps. [CityRoom]
– Hooters is facing a lawsuit for making its waitresses buy their uniforms. [NYP]
– Just try and top this Halloween dish. [Not Martha]
– 100-year-old whiskey, anyone? [GlobalPost]
– In Illinois, 100 hours of community service or...a tray of jerk chicken? [Chicago Tribune]

Breaking Bread With Frank Morales

2009-10-29T18:25:00Z

Jackie's

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Flying in the face of carbo-phobia, well-regarded chef Frank Morales (ex Rustico and Zola) is obsessed with bread and beer, which come together at his latest gig refocusing the modern American cuisine at Jackie’s in Silver Spring.

Zagat Buzz: Tell us about your interest in bread, and how it's related to beer.

Frank Morales: Well, you can think of beer as bread in a glass. They share many of the same components. There is a fermentation process in both. So, I thought, why not try to blend the lines.

ZB: How did you do that?

FM: About four years ago, I created a sourdough starter with grapes. One day, I began feeding it beer and flour, instead of water and flour. In choosing a brew, I went to the fundamentals of great beers – choosing a Trappist-style Belgian to intensify the taste. I discovered that the resulting bread had a terrific flavor profile – a great sour flavor, caramel in the crust and a weblike texture. This bread pairs with grilled cheese and country ham, and it is on the menu at Jackie’s.

ZB: What other breads have you developed and will they be served at Jackie’s?

FM: We have a malty, darker bread made with Westmalle Duvel that goes with my pork and tomato dish. A lighter bread gets its spicy sweetness from Achel Eight Degrees Trappist Tripple. It pairs well with a cheese platter. Not only are these served at Jackie’s, but we will be selling them retail.

ZB: How else are you refocusing the menu?

FM: We are looking for more seasonal and local products to use.

ZB: Since you have to feed a starter every few days – can you ever go on a vacation?

FM: I have a starter sitter.

Washington D.C.

Outtake of the Week

Zengo Zen With Tequila

Zengo

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Dining News Elsewhere: Obesity and Cancer, Bacon-Wrapped Matzoh Balls

Celeb Chefs Cover the Market

Central Michel Richard

Photo: Mimi Le

Michel Richard

Citronelle

3000 M St. NW (30th St.) Washington, DC 20007 202-625-2150; reserve online

Central Michel Richard

1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (11th St.) Washington, DC 20004 202-626-0015; reserve online

Eric Ziebold

CityZen

1330 Maryland Ave. SW (12th St.) Washington, DC 20024 202-787-6006; reserve online

Sou'Wester

1330 Maryland Ave. SW (12th St.) Washington, DC 20024 202-787-6990

Peter Pastan

Obelisk

2029 P St. NW (bet. 20th & 21st Sts.) Washington, DC 20036 202-872-1180

2 Amys

3715 Macomb St. NW (Wisconsin Ave.) Washington, DC 20016 202-885-5700

D'Acqua Docked

Tasting Top Chefs

Fabio wants to enrich your malfatti with duck confit

Photo: courtesy of Bravo TV

Dining News Elsewhere: An Illy Invasion, Iron Chef in the White House

Mac 'n' Cheese Five Ways

Champers for a Cause

Cooking With Coco

David Chang's pork neck with succotash

Photo and recipe: courtesy of Phaidon Press

Dining News Elsewhere: PBR For Sale, Wading Into the Tip Pool

Outtake of the Week

ANTHR BGR

Pop Rocks get a shout-out at the new BGR

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Dining News Elsewhere: Menu Labeling Goes National, No More Kitchen Nightmares

Breaking Bread With Frank Morales

Jackie's

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

3000 M St. NW
(30th St.)
Washington, DC 20007
202-625-2150; reserve online

1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
(11th St.)
Washington, DC 20004
202-626-0015; reserve online

1330 Maryland Ave. SW
(12th St.)
Washington, DC 20024
202-787-6006; reserve online

1330 Maryland Ave. SW
(12th St.)
Washington, DC 20024
202-787-6990

2029 P St. NW
(bet. 20th & 21st Sts.)
Washington, DC 20036
202-872-1180

3715 Macomb St. NW
(Wisconsin Ave.)
Washington, DC 20016
202-885-5700