Capital Spice

Photo from www.ps7restaurant.com

Looking for a Penn Quarter destination with creative cocktails and a bar menu to match?  Eager for a sit-down dinner that impresses with its ingredients as well as its execution?  Okay…there are actually several places in that part of town that fit the bill.  But there are few that have consistently impressed us the way PS7′s has.

Your experience at Peter Smith’s restaurant is entirely up to you.  Upon arriving at the host stand, you can choose to turn left and enter the dining room.  If you do so, a menu that reflects PS7′s commitment to freshness and seasonal fare awaits.  But turn right, and you’ll enter the realm of “Mixtress” Gina Chersevani, whose inventive beverages have lured us from Poste to Rasika to EatBar and now back to Penn Quarter.  Pair those drinks up with some killer appetizers and sandwiches, and you’ve got a bar that more than holds its own.

Our most recent visit to PS7′s came after this month’s Food Blogger Happy Hour, so we were primed for a great dining experience.  As it turns out, we were visiting during their extended Restaurant Week offering – fitting, as our first visit was during another Restaurant Week a few years ago.

Three courses on your left, cocktails and bar food on your right; you can find both after the jump. (more…)

Live polka, sausages, dozens of German beers, a crowded dance floor, an authentic bier hall setting, a low cover at the door for live entertainment. Everything on this list is awesome. I shouldn’t have to convince you that this is a good idea. A weekend visit to Blob’s Park is, intrinsically, a good idea.

Max Blob’s Park, in Jessup, MD, is easily the most authentically German-American experience to be had in the DC area. Note the intentional use of the hyphenate here. I don’t believe that your ubermodern, jelly-donut loving Berliner is going to walk into this bier hall and feel at home. It will, however, feel very familiar to folks of any age from Cincinnati to Chicago to Lubbock. You can see it in the audience which is full of everything from young parents to local enlisted to polka-loving gramps. I did not grow up in a polka house but on my first visit to Blob’s Park, I walked around the place with my mouth hanging open. “Everything okay?” Mike asked. I looked around. Everything my eyes landed on could have been lifted directly from my parents house, from the beer steins to the dusty Hummel figurines to the food to every third guy who looked like my uncle John. I was floored. Was this a polka hall or my family reunion? ”I had no idea I was so freaking German,” I told him.

Food, beer, and the Blob’s Park story after the jump. (more…)

A few weeks ago, we received a comment from Jack who made a few tweaks to our favorite recipe for homemade half-sour pickles.  His version added onions and turmeric to the mix, which we expected to give the pickles a more pronounced vegetable flavor.  Considering how popular our pickle post has been, we were eager to see how Jack’s variation differed from the original.

We stopped by the H Street FreshFarm Market and made a beeline for Richfield Farms’ stand at the rear of the market.  Their cucumbers have proven to be perfect for pickling in previous efforts, so we wanted to use them again this time.  While we were there, we may have picked up the ingredients for a batch of gazpacho, too…have we mentioned how often we make it in season?

Jack’s recipe and our thoughts after the jump. (more…)

When it comes to Ethiopian food, we’re just starting to learn about everything that DC’s countless options have to offer.  For a long time, Mike let a bad experience keep him away from an entire cuisine.  But a visit to Etete several months ago convinced him that not all Ethiopian food was out to get him, so we decided to check out Dukem before the Air Guitar National Championships at the 9:30 Club last month.

Why Dukem?  After Etete, it was the most recommended of the Ethiopian restaurants along 9th and U Streets…we figured all those folks couldn’t be too wrong.  Besides – we had Techie Jim visiting us from Kansas City, and we wanted to show him one of DC’s most noteworthy cuisines.

Dukem is described as one of the more “put together” Ethiopian places in Washington, combining a sleek interior with above-average service and a traditional menu that runs the gamut from wat to tibs to kitfo.  We’ve only got the one previous experience to compare it to, but the descriptions of the dishes and the server’s enthusiastic recommendations definitely helped us to figure out which dishes best represented Dukem’s cuisine.

The whole kitfo and caboodle after the jump. (more…)

There are some events where the meal is good despite a shabby setting. And other meals where the atmosphere dominates the menu. Then there are the rare dinners where the environment, the company, and the food is so gorgeous and delicious it all feels like a magazine airbrushed fantasy. Enter Outstanding in the Field.

Outstanding in the Fieldis the brainchild of Jim Denevan, a chef, artist and onetime forced farm laborer (courtesy of his big brother). In 1999 while living and working in Santa Cruz, CA, Denevan got the idea to bring diners, their meal, and chefs closer to its origins by dining on a farm. After all, what could be more gorgeous than dining al fresco in the Santa Cruz redwoods? Well, perhaps Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, VA. Outstanding in the Field hosted three dinners over Labor Day weekend  at the historic Ayrshire Farm. Chefs for the dinners featured local talent such as Bryan Moscatello of Zola and Potenza and Robert Townsend from Ayrshire Farms. We specifically selected the Sunday evening dinner for its chef: Anthony Chittum of Vermillion.

As a square-state kid, I’ve set foot on a farm or two in my day. So heading through the rolling verdant countryside of Virginia, I was anticipating a bucolic, natural setting mingled with an honest days work that only a working farm  can create. What I did not anticipate is the ever-expansive grandiosity of Ayrshire Farm. From long wooded drive to gorgeous stone house to a stable that puts the chicest Chevy Chase home to shame, this is no ordinary farm.

Mike, Itty Bitty Betty, Bacon Terrorist and I walked up the drive trying to keep our awe in check, lest we be kicked out for being too middle class. I turned to Bacon Terrorist, “You know how people talk about the big real estate dreams they’d act on if they won the lottery? We’re walking on mine.” I had no idea it was about to get so much better.

The event began with a late afternoon champagne reception where guests were able to mingle between the back portico and the lake, sipping Veritas Scintilla Brut and enjoying the perfect country breeze. Soon waitstaff began delivering tray after tray of savory hors d’oeuvres. The pork belly with sun dried tomato was a hit early and often with diners, eliciting the type of eye rolls and throaty gurgles normally reserved for the depths of a massage. “That’s it,” Bacon Terrorist announced, pork belly in one hand and champagne in the other, “this whole thing was worth the price of admission. I could leave without even having dinner and still be happy.”

But the bite-sized fun wasn’t over yet. Soon Mike got his hands on a lamb merguez sausage topped with a drizzling of marinated cucumbers and fresh dill, providing a delicious contrast between the earthy, just-so-spicy sausage and clean cucumbers.  The fanfare from the crowd continued. Less of a universal hit but still good was the local veal with squash caponata. I admit, I’m not a huge veal fan for both texture and humane reasons, but I tried it to be a good guest. It was… surprisingly good. Ayrshire Farms raises humane veal calves, giving them fresh air, room to move and a balanced diet. As a result, the veal had a thicker texture and deeper color which is a sign, we later learned from our host, of calves that have not been iron deprived.

The reception concluded with a welcome speech from Tim and tour of the farm where, OMFG, there are piglets. Nothing betrays a city kid more than squealing over a bunch of baby pigs but that is exactly what all the dinner guests did. How can you not? The squat pink nose, giant ears, a not quite corkscrew tail. Piglets are tailor made to be adorable and criminally delicious. The cognitive dissonance would have distracted me if I didn’t have a belly full of champagne and pork belly lamb. The farm tour continued to a pair of curious calves, the impressive stable quarters, and the organic vegetable field.

The evening’s menu and an orgy of food photos after the jump.

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Pork.  Here in Washington, it’s one of those four letter words that you just don’t use in polite company.  Since the time of the Civil War, politicians have decried the wasteful “pork barrel spending” that sends money to their opponents’ districts for pet projects…all the while defending the necessary and important projects they’re fighting for.

With all this talk of pork, you’d think someone would be cooking up good barbecue within sight of the Capitol dome…but you already know our thoughts on that.  Maybe it’s only fitting, then, that the newest entry onto Washington’s barbecue scene has its roots on the Hill.

Back in 2006, Heath Hall and Brett Thompson were staffers for Senator Jim Talent of Missouri.  During the many long hours that went into that year’s budget debate, the two men found themselves lamenting the lack of flavor among barbecue options in the area (a common conversation among staffers from all barbecue regions).  With all the talk of spending flying around, they started joking that they should team up to bring home the bacon, so to speak, and so they coined the name “Pork Barrel BBQ.”

That could have been the end of it – how many great ideas are hatched in late-night brainstorming sessions and never acted upon?  But Senator Talent’s defeat in the 2006 elections soon gave Brett and Heath more free time to focus on their idea.  By February of 2008, they were ready to make the jump into the barbecue seasoning business, and they incorporated Pork Barrel BBQ.  As Heath puts it, “Thankfully, both of us are lawyers, so we were able to wade through all the un-fun stuff you need to do to set up a business.”

Both men knew what they thought barbecue should taste like, but they wanted to make sure that they had a product that would appeal to a broader audience.  So they assembled their Kitchen Cabinet (yeah…the government references fly fast and furious with these guys) and taste-tested five spice blends.  Of course the best way to taste-test a rub is to use it on an actual pork shoulder, so you can imagine how much fun that was to do.  The results were split – there were positive comments about distinctly different aspects of two of the choices.  Brett and Heath did some tinkering and came up with a blend that combined the best parts of both, and they knew they had their All American Spice Rub.

From concept to contests, ABC’s Shark Tank and restaurant after the jump. (more…)

School is back in session. What do chefs pack in their kids’ brown bag lunches?

Whatever the kids take,  it’s better than Fox 5 weatherman Tony Perkins recent meal…   

Marshmallows make a sophisticated comeback.  
 
The DC Rainmaker made some great looking recipes at home over Labor Day and has the pictures to prove it.

What beers work best with a big, juicy burger? Beerspotter investigates.  

The legendary grass fed, open range beef of Argentina is slowly switching to American style feedlots. 
 
Trouble with Toast recaps Top Chef, Las Vegas for your reading pleasure. 
 
Jameson Whiskey advertising is coming to television with an epic commercial. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/business/media/10adco.html?_r=1
 
DCist celebrates their birthday… with an accidental whale cake. http://dcist.com/2009/09/dcists_cakewreck.php 
 
New York’s legendary Tavern on the Green filed for bankruptcy this week. http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/10/tavern-on-the-green-files-chapter-11-a-sad-day-for-new-york-res/

You have to hand it to Bernie Prince, Ann Yonkers and the rest of the team at FreshFarm Markets.  No sooner do they join the ranks of the Twitterati than they hit us with a bombshell:

That’s right…all that speculation and investigatory journalism over the past few weeks was right on the money!

As you might expect, news of this magnitude was immediately echoed by at least seven or eight of our DC food-writer friends.  But we noticed that the official press release (linked through the image above) was missing something – the names of the vendors who would be at the market next Thursday when the “FreshFarm Market, by the White House” opens for the first time.

We reached out to Bernie Prince and she gave us all the exciting details.  Like other FreshFarm Markets, this will be a producers-only market, featuring eighteen familiar vendors on opening day.  As Bernie explained, “We want this to be a market where shoppers can get everything in one place – from milk and meat to bread and vegetables.”

She also pointed out two more aspects of the market that make it an engaged partner with the local community.  As at their Silver Spring and H Street Markets, the FreshFarm Market, by the White House, will offer a “Double Dollars” program that will match the first $25 in Food Stamps, WIC and Senior Nutrition Dollars spent at the market.  The program is funded through grants and private donations.  Additionally, the market will work with Miriam’s Kitchen as a “gleaning partner” to provide fresh food for their outreach efforts to the hungry and homeless of DC.

The news you’ve been waiting for – the 19 producers who will be selling on Vermont Avenue – after the jump. (more…)

For some people, Washington’s numerous monuments, museums and other attractions present a real problem: how can you possibly see and do everything in a weekend?  Inevitably, you end up having to prioritize.  You promise yourself that you’ll be back to check out the things you missed, but it makes disappointing experiences sting that much more.

In our case, replace “monuments, museums and attractions” with “restaurants, food carts and other dining establishments.”  Just as tough as deciding what to see and do in a new city is deciding where to eat and drink.  After all, you’ve only got a finite number of meals in any given 24-hour period…

…Right?

Not if you’re Hagan Blount.  Blount, also known as The Wandering Foodie, has become something of a marathon man when it comes to destination dining.  Last month he kicked off a new project: 24 in 24. 

The premise is simple enough.  While most of us tend to plan brunches, lunches and dinners (as well as the occasional bar crawl) when visiting other cities, Blount refuses to be constrained by mealtimes.  He powers his way through 24 eating and drinking venues over the course of one day, filming everything for posterity and then cutting it down into something of a gastronomic travelogue.

After cutting his teeth on Boston, he has now turned his attention to Washington and will be going strong from 6 AM Saturday morning until 5 AM Sunday (at which point, we suspect, he’ll lay down and hibernate to sleep off all that eating and drinking).  His agenda is ambitious…and not without some controversy.  He actually reached out to local bloggers via Chow last month, looking for recommendations and foodies who might want to participate in some capacity.  Thanks to a friendly recommendation from Elyssa at State Dinner, we connected with him and helped him to refine some of his destinations.  We may even join him at one or two stops.

But before we meet up with him, we asked him a few questions about his movable feast.  Check it out after the jump (and be sure to say hi if you happen to cross paths with Hagan this weekend). (more…)

One of the questions that we get asked from time to time is “Why haven’t you written about XXX yet?”  More often than not, the answer is simply that we haven’t had a chance to check it out, or else we didn’t feel like we got a good enough handle on the place to write about it.  But when it comes to Michel Richard’s Central, it really came down to a question of timing.

We’ve been to Central a handful of times since it opened, for everything from a birthday celebration to a random lobster burger craving.  And each time we’ve walked away impressed by one or more aspects of our experience: the airy gougeres, the staff’s knowledge of wines, the bar service (under the watchful eye of Justin Guthrie, who’s now turning heads as the Director of Bar Concepts for the W Hotel).  But somehow, those experiences never seemed to fall at a time when it was convenient to write about them here.

Thankfully, a recent lunch gave us the opportunity to rectify that.  Grabbing a stool at the bar and settling in with a refreshing peach tonic (a delicious non-alcoholic drink with plenty of bubbles and a tart sweetness from Fee’s peach bitters), I was able to reacquaint myself with Central’s menu and check out a few dishes that seemed to reflect the best ingredients of the late summer.

I arrived a few minutes early and was immediately struck by the number of people inside.  Central’s lunch crowd was impressive considering the fact that we were meeting smack in the middle of the August Congressional recess (they were named Power Spot of the Year at this year’s Rammys, after all).  Thankfully we had planned to meet and eat at the bar; had we attempted to get a table as walk-ins, we might have had a bit of a wait.

A truly unique gazpacho (and a few unexpected favorites from previous visits) after the jump. (more…)