Capital Spice

Slurp your way through Tokyo’s ramen district.

Tim Carman get saddled with trying the latest cupcake spot in Alexandria. Woe is Tim. 

Put the south in your mouth with this biscuit pudding recipe.

Give some love back to DC’s favorite bartenders Gina Chersevani and Derek Brown by voting for them in the CocktailKingdom.com best bartender poll.

Super Bowl cupcakes!

Are kosher and halal meats healthier for you than “regular” meat?

Brunch and the City checks out brunch at Ben’s Next Door.

The Post walks us through Michael Landrum’s latest endeavors.

How did chefs in New Orleans and Indianapolis prep for the big day?

David Lebovitz goes truffle hunting in southwestern France, complete with a pig on a leash.

When it comes to barbecue, there are plenty of folks who think nothing of braving golf ball-sized hail and tornado warnings to turn out competition-quality smoked meats.

I am not one of those people…and I’m betting you’re not, either.

Nature has spoken – SnoMageddon (Keyser SnowZe?) is upon us, and the area will not be spared.  The tiny white objects of Washington’s crippling fear are already coming down.  Shelves that were emptied last night have been refilled and are being re-emptied as we speak.

So what does all this mean to Meat Week?  We’re no fools – we’re going to postpone tonight’s dinner at Branded ’72 and tomorrow’s gathering for Mr. P’s Ribs and Fish.  Turns out, we couldn’t get together on Saturday if we wanted to.

I gave Mr. P a call to let him know that I was planning to postpone, and he assured me he had a similar plan.  “I didn’t even go out today,” he said.  “The man said there’s gonna be snow.”

We’re still trying to figure out when to plan our trips to make up days 6 and 7, but we’ll be sure to let everyone know.  One idea: wait until July and celebrate the six-month anniversary of Meat Week with a few more locations thrown in for good measure.

What to do between now and then?

If your week of barbecued indulgence has left you craving something fresh and green, you might consider attending some of the events of Meat-Free Week, taking place from Saturday to next Friday.  They’ve got some great locations on the agenda, including Restaurant Nora and Sticky Fingers Bakery.

As you might expect, Meat-Free Week is patterned directly after Meat Week.  And if you can get past the somewhat preachy opening paragraph, the write-up at DCVegan is a good read (and a direct response to one of our posts from last week).  Who knew – you CAN make friends with salad, after all!

We’re planning to hit up one or two of their events, and I’m definitely looking forward to meeting Amber McDonald to compliment her on the idea.

When planning the schedule for Meat Week, I had a few really tough choices to make.  In some cases, it was a question of how far afield people would be willing to go for the inaugural edition of Meat Week DC.  In other cases, the decision came down to what kind of impact a particular establishment has on the DC barbecue scene.

After opening Meat Week at Urban Bar-B-Que, one of the most widely praised among the newer ‘cue joints in the area, it was on to two of the veterans in the field.  Both Rocklands and Red Hot & Blue have been serving up smoked meats in Washington for more than twenty years.  In the process, they’ve expanded to several locations each around the DC area.  To me, they embody (in very different ways) the “all cues to all people” mindset that tries to serve up a taste of home to ‘cue lovers from all traditions.

So how do they stack up against some of the newcomers?  Check out some photos, some thoughts and a reminder about tonight’s big Pork Barrel BBQ event after the jump. (more…)

Clarendon, that wonderous yuppie village in NoVa, has been blessed with several new eateries in the last few years. Their luck tripled when Eventide opened bringing with it a cozy downstairs bar lounge, a delicious seasonal restaurant on the spacious second floor, and a wide open rooftop deck.

In the restaurant’s early days, Mike and I made short work of Eventide’s bar menu in their sleek, industrial space. While beer and wine are available on tap, the real fun is in the well-crafted cocktail list, topped with seasonal ingredients. Tipplers looking to warm up a winter evening may want to toss back The Westover, a potent concotion of Rittenhouse BiB Rye mixed with vanilla syrup, chartreuse Rinse, and topped with an orange peel. 

Down a hallway of eclectic mirrors, up the stairs, and behind heavy velvet curtains is Eventide’s soaring dining room. Chef Miles Vaden, who previously pleased Capitol Hill diners at Sonoma, toils in the kitchen to present diners with robust seasonal dishes. A dish of roasted oxtail in housemade ravioli was succulent and soothing for a dark night. The pasta, made with guajillo peppers, delivers a touch of kick along with a surpsingly golden tint. Meanwhile, a companion’s lamb loin housemade suasage with roasted brussel sprouts hit the perfect savory note.

Eventide
3165 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201

I’m not going to lie.  When I showed up at Urban Bar-B-Que at 7 PM last night, I figured there was a 50-50 chance that I was going to be enjoying a plate of brisket all by myself and then heading home.  Such is the uncertainty that comes from putting something like Meat Week together.  It’s a feeling I hadn’t had since I stopped planning events as part of my job.

So I showed up with my Meat Week flags and my most recent copy of the KCBS Bull Sheet, ready to greet my fellow Meat Weekers…but I brought a book with me, just in case.

I’m more than a little pleased that the book turned out to be completely unnecessary.  Washington’s barbecue lovers turned out in force to kick off our inaugural Meat Week.  At one point, we had twenty-four people celebrating over plates brown paper-covered trays of ribs, pulled pork and brisket.

The team at Urban were the perfect hosts for our inaugural event.  I had given them a heads up that some undetermined number of people would be arriving to celebrate Meat Week.  Rather than ask “What the hell does that mean?” they actually looked into it and were ready to greet us when we arrived.  They reserved a few tables up front so we’d have a place to gather (we eventually overtook the entire restaurant), and then they stepped back and let Meat Week take its course as everyone ordered whatever they had a taste for.

More photos and details – as well as info on a Haiti relief event tomorrow night – after the jump. (more…)