if you can't beat 'em...

So as mentioned previously, I was a little annoyed that we were left off Washingtonian's list of the 100 Best Restaurants in the D.C. area.  I mean, I'm not saying we're better than Komi and need to be #1, I just think that we're better than some of the things that happened to make it on the list.  I also noticed that there were only two places east of the Capitol on the entire list, so that says something as well.

However, after some soul-searching, I decided to be less ticked and channel my energy into something more productive — like making sure we get on that list next year.  I think there are a number of ways we can accomplish this.  One of them is making sure that we step up our game with the entree portion of the menu.  Everyone knows our mussels and fries are good and are, in the eyes of many, the best in DC.  But we can't make it on to the list with just mussels and fries.  I want to step up the game with our sandwiches although they are consistently really delicious.  But the biggest difference I noted, just from reading about the places that did make the list, was that our appetizers and entrees need to be taken up a notch or two.

Accomplishing that goal is going to come from a lot of things: menu changes, making sure we keep on track with the weekly chef meetings to plan out our orders of proteins and kick around ideas for specials, encouraging creativity and innovation among the other cooks, and making it clear that it's not okay to just send out a good dish but that it has to happen on a consistent basis with an emphasis on great presentation.

But one other part of my multi-faceted strategy for stepping up our game and making that list is to eat at as many of the spots that made it as I can to get a sense of what they do, how we compare, what lessons can be learned, and maybe even pick up a few ideas to bring back into our kitchen.  So far in the last two days, I've gone to two.

#100: Marvin

So I was really looking forward to this spot for a two reasons: 1) it was #100 meaning it was the last place to make the cut and 2) one of their signatures is offering several preparations of moules frites.  I went Sunday night before heading to a show at the 9:30 Club and we were seated within 5 minutes of arriving.  The decor is really hip with kind of a sleek urban vibe.  The noise level was actually a lot better than many other hip spots but maybe that's just because this was a Sunday and the snow outside was keeping the crowds away.

I decided to forego having a drink since I was on my way to the show and there would be plenty of booze there.  Neither I nor my dinner companion were super hungry and so we didn't mess around with appetizers and got right down to entrees.  He got the mussels with white wine, shallots, and fennel and I got the famous chicken and waffles.

The food came out relatively quickly and I was eagerly awaiting the verdict on the mussels.  My friend is a diehard fan of Granville's and our mussels and since I really can't eat a full order of mussels anymore (you try eating a bowl of them when most of your days are spent cleaning them, cooking them, and generally consumed with all things moules), I figured I'd let him order the moules frite and tell me how our fries and mussels compare.  His verdict: their actual mussels taste more like mussels whereas our broth takes on a lot more flavor and our mussels also have a lot more of the flavor of what's in the broth.  Basically their mussels and their broth are like two separate dishes whereas ours are a bit more connected.  

I suspect this is because of a difference in cooking methods.  Ninety-percent of places will cook mussels by steaming them in a pan with a lid.  This traps all of the water that would otherwise evaporate as the wine, beer, or whatever cooking liquid is being used comes to a boil.  So the mussels are steamed open and then the whole dish is plated by basically dumping everything in a bowl.  Our mussels are different.  We cook ours in an open sautée pan and toss the mussels around frequently to coat them with the hot broth.  This helps them open but I think it's also why the flavor of the sauce tends to infuse our mussels really well.

As for the frites...well, few things make me as sad as having frites that are less than spectacular. These, sadly, fell into that category.  The color was good, they were pillowy on the inside, but they lacked that crisp outside that I love and they could have been hotter too.  The fries at Marvin come with three dipping sauces: a horseradish mayo that I loved, a curry mayo that was way too eggy and sticky, and catsup.  

But, while Marvin gets acclaim for it's moules frites, the dish I was really looking forward to was the fried chicken and waffles.  This is the dish that gets rave reviews and, well, let's be honest, it's fried chicken.  How can you really go wrong with that?  And this dish had a lot of my favorite things on one plate: country fried chicken breast, Belgian waffle, white gravy, collard greens, and even a ramekin of maple syrup should you want a little sweetness.  After cleaning the plate completely, I have to say that I loved a lot about this dish and found only one thing that I would have changed.  The chicken was perfectly cooked.  Really crunchy outside and super moist inside.  It was resting on top of a soft, slightly sweet, golden brown waffle.  The white gravy underneath was great and I only wish there was more of it.  Midway through I poured the syrup all over the whole thing and I really loved the flavor of the salty chicken, the rich gravy and the sweet syrup and waffle.  The only thing I would have changed with this dish was the collard greens.  

Being from the South I have pretty specific ideas of what I want in collard greens.  The ideal serving of greens should be tender and slightly bitter (Marvin gets both of these right).  Where they missed was the acid and the smoked meat flavor.  I usually make my greens with either a smoked ham hock or some slab bacon.  If neither of those are available, then a smoked turkey leg works well.  But to me, collard greens thrive when their earthy bitterness goes up against that rich, smokey flavor.  And what balances it all out is acid.  I usually add in some apple cider vinegar before the greens have completely wilted so that much of the vinegar cooks down but still leaves behind a bright acidic finish.  However, other than that, I would say the chicken and waffles were pretty amazing.  On the whole, Marvin gets a decent rating from me.  The mussels (the two I tried) were tasty but I like more of the flavors from the broth to infuse the mussels, the fries were disappointing as was the curry mayo, the chicken was perfection as was the waffle and the gravy, and the collards were certainly decent although not perfect.

#6: Restaurant Eve

So within a twenty four hour span I went from sitting at the #100 restaurant to sitting at the #6.  I think it was a really neat experience because one of the things I noticed is that so much of what makes a truly great restaurant great is little details.  Restaurant Eve rarely misses on the details from the stellar drinks, each placed on the appropriate side (right hand side) of the guest, to making sure silverware was replaced between courses to the tiny garnishes like the fried capers on a salad that don't seem like much but if they weren't there the whole dish would be different.

I went with a good friend of mine who is a fellow foodie and who had just returned from a trip to NYC where she had the 9 course tasting menu at Le Bernardin so I figured she'd have a really great standard of comparison.  Especially since both courses she ordered included seafood.  But let's start at the beginning.

I definitely was not going to forego drinks here.  In addition to a great wine list, Restaurant Eve is home to Todd Thrasher, one of the best mixologists (aka fancy bartenders) in the country.  So a cocktail was definitely on the agenda.  I ordered "The Cure All" which is a palate-pleasing blend of Hendricks gin, Blanco tequila, tumeric, and basil coconut water.  The first taste of the drink is sweet with the tequila and coconut being the dominant flavors.  The second sip is a more developed taste that starts sweet, has an earthy middle from the tumeric, and finishes with a crispness from the cucumber in the Hendricks and the hint of basil.  My friend had the Molly Delicious, a smooth concoction of house-made apple cider, Calvados, and Makers Mark.  Bourbon and apple were made for each other and this drink proves why.  There's something about that combination that is just so refreshing and earthy at the same time.

For our first course, we both had the evening's salad special: bibb lettuce, fried fresh sardines from Maine, hard-boiled quail egg, fried capers, and a creamy dressing of some sort (I wish I had remembered to ask).  The salad was delicious.  The sardines were perfectly crisp and with a light ocean flavor that was not fishy at all.  The bibb lettuce was delicate enough to let all the other flavors shine and the fried capers made this dish.  That little bit of crunchy, briny flavor was the perfect garnish.  Like I said, it's all in the details.

On to the main course.  My friend had the rockfish over creamy polenta and swiss chard with a lobster butter.  The fish was expertly seared with a beautiful brown crust on the outside and a supremely moist interior.  The bitterness of the chard paired well with the meaty rockfish and creamy polenta.  I opted to go with the pan friend veal sweetbreads served on a bed of parsnip, bacon, roasted cipollini onions, wilted greens, and a whole grain mustard sauce.  This dish was heaven.  I would eat this every day if I could.  The sweetbreads were so crisp but so buttery inside and the tangy mustard sauce along with the sweetness from the parsnips and cipollinis was just amazing.  This was probably one of the best dishes I've had and I was really glad I went with the sweetbreads.  Given Cathal Armstrong's reputation for amazing preparations of offal I figured the sweetbreads would be great but they were still just so sublime.

After that main course, it would be hard for any dessert to compare since I'm not much of a sweet tooth but we decided to at least try something.  So we went with the banana creme tart with cocoa nib ice cream and caramel.  It was a really nice, light dessert and a good end to the meal.  

All in all I'd say that Restaurant Eve more than deserves it's #6 ranking.  The details here are never overlooked and it means that the entire experience is one of great pleasure.  

So that concludes part one of what I'm sure will be many posts as I continue to try out the best the DC dining scene has to offer.

greatest. idea. ever.

Sorry for the lapse in posts, I was in Vegas. For my take on Vegas, you can see this post. But back to food. This isn't going to be a long post, but I couldn't let this slip by me. So apparently the National Press Club is hosting a benefit that will give individuals the opportunity to serve as a sous chef to one of DC's top chefs.

I don't know about you, but this would be like a dream come true. Sadly, it is $250 and therefore a bit out of price range for yours truly, but I think this is a really neat idea. With an increasing focus on food and cooking in our society and so many more people becoming interested in haute cuisine and celebrity chefs, this is a smart smart way for a charity to raise money. Also, if anyone is looking for ideas for a REALLY early Christmas present...

...just kidding. Mostly.

restaurant weekend: a recap

So after having eaten out for January restaurant week and having been extremely underwhelmed by the experience, Tahir proposed the idea of doing a restaurant week type event of his own. This would involve inviting guests, asking them each to pay $30 (the same cost as restaurant week minus tax and tip) and providing them an extremely upscale menu with some choices. This weekend was when it all came together.

First of all, the menu:

Amuse bouche of Foie Gras and Grape Chutney

Course 1: Salad of Duck Confit with Sherry Poached Pear and Honey-champagne Vinaigrette or Saffron Scented Parsnip Soup with Butternut Squash Coulis

Course 2: Horseradish Crusted Rack of Lamb with Baby Arugula, Sauteed Langoustines, and Cherry Gastrique or White Truffle Risotto with Gulf Shrimp Fondue

Course 3: Pineapple Creme Brulee or Profiteroles with Coffee Ice Cream and Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Sauce

That menu seems ambitious and, let me tell you, it was. I was fortunate enough to get to serve as sous chef for the event and the amount of preparation that went into it was daunting. And I was only involved in part of it. I would also like to note that, for anyone who has ever been to a party where T and I were cooking and seen the usual chaos that occurs in his kitchen, this was a MUCH smoother affair. This may have been because of some advance prep, a smaller number of people to cook for, the fact that T and I are just getting to be better cooks or a once-in-a-century alignment of the planets but, regardless, it was unusually relaxed and on time.

Amuse Bouche
The literal French translation of this term is something that "amuses the mouth". In a more practical sense, an amuse bouche is a one to two bite mini-dish that is serve before the hors d'oeuvre or first course of a meal. It was popularized with the rise of Nouvelle Cuisine and is generally used to both excite the diner's palate in anticipation of the meal and also explain something about the chef's approach to cooking.

That said, the amuse bouche for this meal was a decadent and flavorful course that hinted at the meal that was to come. The foundation for it was thick cut slices of baguette that I removed the crusts from and brushed with olive oil on both sides. I baked them at 300 degrees (relatively low) to ensure that they became crisp all the way through and turned slightly golden from the oil. Once the hot slices of baguette came out of the oven, I rubbed them with raw garlic. The hot bread takes a lot of the oil out of the garlic and creates a garlic scented bread that is flavorful without being overpowering. The next layer was slices of seared foie gras which, alone, would have created a delicious but almost overly-rich course. To balance the decadent richness of the foie gras, T made a light and refreshing grape chutney. A dollop of the grape chutney, a pinch of lemon and orange zest and a small amount of smoked salt were the finishing touches. The final result was an amuse bouche that had a rich and buttery foundation with a fruity and refreshing accompaniment. This alternately extravagant and sparklingly clean course was, to me, the perfect summation of T's approach to the rest of the menu.

Course 1

Salad of Duck Confit with Sherry Poached Pear and Honey-Champagne Vinaigrette
This salad is not for the faint of heart or appetite. It's an impressive plate with a lot going in terms of both flavor and portion size. Confit is a method of preserving a meat in it's own fat and is most common with duck. This preserves the meat but also creates a brown, flavorful crust when seared in a hot pan, which is exactly how this was cooked. I rubbed the legs of duck with a blend of paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper and then seared them on each side in a hot pan.

The rest of this composed salad consisted of sliced pear that had been poached in a mixture of white wine, ruby port, sugar, and star anise (a change from the sherry planned on the menu that, while last minute, turned out to be excellent) and torn leaves of butter lettuce and escarole that had been tossed in a honey champagne vinaigrette. This vinaigrette was my special addition to this dish since I randomly concocted it in an attempt to find a sweet and light dressing to balance the acidity of goat cheese in a salad. It has since become a staple of my repertoire and is probably my favorite dressing.

Saffron Scented Parsnip Soup with Butternut Squash Coulis
This soup was probably, in terms of presentation and taste, among the most simple items on the menu but that simplicity did not make it any less delicious or satisfying. The soup itself was a puree of parsnip, carrot, and celery that had been cooked in chicken stock. Once the vegetables were tender, T pureed them with an immersion blender and then to round out the flavor and add some richness a splash of whole milk was incorporated. Saffron was tossed in at the last minute to provide a light flavor and earthy scent. Topping the soup was a coulis of pureed butternut squash that was flavored by simmering it with some whole allspice for a bit. I garnished the bowls of soup with sprigs of fresh tarragon and then they were set. Although it sounds simple in comparison to the salad, this was a velvety soup that was warm, fragrant, and comforting. This is a soup I would easily eat on a cold winter day with a piece of good bread and be perfectly content with nothing more.

Course 2

Horseradish Crusted Rack of Lamb with Baby Arugula, Sauteed Langoustines, and Cherry Gastrique
This main dish probably had the most stunning presentation of any of the courses and has accomplished the near impossible by dethroning 1789 from it's long-held spot as the best lamb I've ever had. For anyone who says they don't like lamb, I would encourage them to try a truly great preparation of lamb and then get back to me. The majority of people I talk to who say they don't like lamb say that it is tough or that it tastes too gamey. This rack of lamb had zero gamey flavor and was more tender than most filet mignon.

The lamb was complimented by a rich and flavorful crust consisting of two layers. First there was a rub of spices (cumin, coriander, pepper, allspice, cayenne, paprika) and then the racks of lamb were seared in oil just to brown each side. Next they were slathered with a mixture of creamed horseradish, cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper and finished in the oven. The oven finished the lamb to a perfect medium rare while turning the horseradish mixture into a spicy crust. The lamb was served alongside baby arugula that had been tossed with lemon juice and langoustines that were sauteed in butter. Finishing the dish was a light and incredibly flavorful gastrique made from blackberries since cherries were not available. I hope T will get the pictures Andrea took up on his blog if for nothing else than this dish. I think the presentation was beautiful and it was an incredibly striking dish. Kudos to him on a fantastic plating.

White Truffle Risotto with Gulf Shrimp Fondue
Not counting the desserts, this was probably the richest dish on the menu. And with a menu that includes duck confit and foie gras, that's saying something. This dish also had a fairly involved preparation that, while time consuming, resulted in a very complex combination of flavors. T started this one by cleaning and deveining the shrimp but saving the heads and tails. The heads and tails were put into a hot pan with olive oil and sauteed until they turned pink. Then chopped shallots, lemongrass, and fennel seed were added. Then came sherry that was added and reduced until almost all of the liquid had evaporated ("a sec" for those wanting to keep up on their French cooking terminology). This was then repeated with vermouth. Once the vermouth had reduced, a generous amount of chopped tomatoes were added and the shrimp heads and tails were simmered in the tomato liquid until a rich stock was starting to form. This mixture was then partially pureed and pushed through a chinoise to extract the rich and flavorful stock. Meanwhile, tomatoes, shallots, and garlic were cooked in olive oil to create a tomato "fondue" that would be combined with the stock to create a sauce for the shrimp.

All of that took place hours before the risotto was to be served and was set aside. When it came time to create the actual risotto itself, the aborio rice was cooked into a basic risotto using chicken stock for the liquid. Once the risotto was done, a sprinkling of chopped parsley and copious amounts of truffle butter were incorporated into the rice. The shrimp themselves were sauteed lightly but not cooked all the way through. The stock and the tomato fondue were combined and simmered until slightly thickened. Then two table spoons of butter were added in to create rich, glaze-like sauce. Finally the shrimp were added to the sauce (where they finished cooking) along with a handful of finely chopped herbs (parsley, tarragon, and chives). I plated this dish as a take on the Southern classic combination of shrimp and grits by putting the creamy risotto down as a base, mounding the shrimp on top, and then spoon the rich sauce over the shrimp. The final touch was a light drizzle of white truffle oil.

Course 3

Since dessert is very much something I try to stay away from preparing (baking involves way too much measuring and paying attention for my taste), I am only going to summarize the third course by saying that both items were incredibly delicious. I trust that T will go into more detail about the preparation on his blog. Regardless of the preparation details, each dish was fantastic.

Pineapple Creme Brulee
I had the creme brulee the first night and the light taste of pineapple was a surprising and welcome addition to the usually rich taste of custard and T's new torch created a perfectly caramelized sugar crust.

Profiteroles with Coffee Ice Cream and Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Sauce
Sunday night I had the profiteroles and, despite our difficulty in making the caramel that formed the base of the Bailey's infused chocolate sauce (note: when sugar gets hot enough to melt, plastic will also melt), this dish was a delicious blend of cool, warm, and light. The profiteroles were soft and light, the coffee ice cream cool and refreshing, and the warm Bailey's chocolate sauce was smooth and decadent.

In summation, this will go down as one of the best meals I've ever eaten and certainly one of the best I've ever prepared. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been involved and also would love to say thank you to all who attended and let T and I use them as guinea pigs for our ultimate dream of one day opening a restaurant.