Capital Spice

We have to hand it to the guys at Pork Barrel – they really embraced the spirit of Meat Week last night.  From the warm welcome they showed Meat Weekers to their generous special, they wanted to make it clear that they speak Meat Week.  Co-owner Heath Hall even bought one of our Meat Week t-shirts!

If you didn’t make it out to join us last night, you can still stop in any night this week and enjoy that same $20.12 Meat Week platter they served us last night.  It includes 1/4 pound of pulled pork, 1/4 pound of chopped brisket, one brisket sausage link, 3 pork spare ribs and 1/4 smoked chicken plus any two sides.  It’s easily enough for two people (or one hungry Meat Weeker).

The other thing you missed last night was a great Meat Quiz created by Hall and administered to unsuspecting Meat Weekers throughout the evening.  It includes some fun questions and some real head-scratchers.  To our knowledge, this is the first time Meat Week has included a trivia component, and it makes us wonder…how could we have overlooked this?!?

The quiz can be found in its entirety in the following three images.  We took the liberty of blacking out the answers, but the rest of the document (including the sauce stains) are original.

Enjoy, and we hope to see you at the rest of our Meat Week events between now and Sunday!

If you thought the winter months meant the DC food truck scene would be heading into hibernation, you were sorely mistaken.  It’s not just the unexpected warm weather that’s keeping Washington’s rolling restaurateurs in the news.  We wanted to let you know about two items of note this week – one of them especially interesting if you’re a government employee and you’re hungry tomorrow.

First, we’ve seen several members of the DC Food Truck Association posting about a toy drive that the association is undertaking to benefit My Sister’s Place.  Participating trucks are accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys every day from now until December 15th.  The toys will be given to children staying at the shelter during the holidays.

My Sister’s Place has been serving victims of domestic violence in the Washington area with emergency shelter for more than 30 years.  They have since expanded their services to include transitional housing assistance, counseling, and a program for immigrants victims of domestic violence, as well.  They have helped more than 1,100 families in need.

Want to know if your lunch destination will be accepting toys on behalf of My Sister’s Place?  Your safest bet is to tweet them and ask – they’ll likely welcome the chance to remind their followers that they’re helping. But chances are they will be participating…the DC Food Truck Association lists more than 20 members on their website, and a quick search for the #DCFTA hashtag on Twitter turned up tweets from TastyKabob, AZNEats, Rolling Ficelle, PORC, the Cheesecake Truck, DC Empanadas and Cajunators asking customers to bring toys.

Second, we’ve got some good news for you if you work in the public sector.  GovLoop, the social network that connects more than 50,000 federal, state and local government employees and provides insight into issues like federal benefits open season, is celebrating their 50,000th member (in just three years).  That means free food for you, if you’re a government employee.

GovLoop has partnered with CapMac and BBQ Bus to provide free lunches for the first 500 public sector employees who show proof of employment tomorrow (Thursday, December 8th).  Your freebies await as follows:

-200 free lunches from CapMac at Federal Triangle, with your choice of classic macaroni and cheese with a drink or goat cheese macaroni and cheese with a drink

-300 free lunches from BBQ Bus at L’Enfant Plaza, featuring your choice of a pulled pork sandwich with chips and a drink or three bean vegetarian chili with a drink

Both trucks will open for service at 11:30 and will be serving until all of the giveaways have been claimed or until 1:30, whichever comes first.  To claim your free lunch, bring a government ID, business card or some other proof of employment.  And don’t forget – this isn’t just limited to federal employees, so state and local workers can take advantage of these deals, too.

Watch Twitter for each truck’s exact location, and definitely plan to be early.  The only thing longer than a food truck line is a food truck line waiting for free food!

Just a quick note while we’re confirming and contacting the winners of our BONMi Giveaway…

In case you haven’t heard, today is the fifth and final Truckeroo food truck gathering in the Bullpen down near Nationals Park.  They’re calling it Truckerboo in honor of Halloween, and you’re invited to Trick or Eat from now until midnight.  There will be live music, more than twenty-five food trucks, costume contests with cash prizes and unseasonably cold weather.

Participating trucks this time around include:

AZN Eats
Surfside Truck
BBQ Bus
Big Cheese
Cajunators
CapMac
Curbside Cupcakes
Dangerous Pies DC
DC Empanadas
DC Slices
Eat Wonky
El Floridano
Fojol Bros
Halal Gyro
Hula Girl
Orange Cow
PORC
Pleasant Pops
Red Hook Lobster
Sang on Wheels
Sauca
SweetBites
TaKorean
Tasty Kabob
Yellow Vendor
Basil Thyme

Check out the website for a great aggregated page with all the participants’ Twitter feeds and additional information about the event.

Ever wonder how Truckeroo came about?  It’s a joint venture of Georgetown Events and the DC Food Truck Association.  We’ll be bringing you more information about both organizations – and what the future holds for Truckeroo – in a regular feature that we’ll be rolling out soon.  Keep an eye out for “Food Truck Fridays” here at Capital Spice!

Toward the end of his stint at Vidalia, Chef RJ Cooper had jumped into the world of the multi-course “experience” tasting menu with both feet.  His “24″ menu got some great coverage from Tim Carman when he was still at the Washington City Paper, and when news came that his first solo concept would be Rogue 24, a restaurant built around the tasting menu, the buzz started building almost immediately.

We’re just a day away from opening now, and those who’ve had a chance to experience dishes firsthand – either in soft opening service over the weekend or at Cooper’s pop-up test run in New York City – have been raving.  We may not have been so lucky as to try the food yet, but we did get to stop by last Friday as Cooper was putting his team through their paces on a couple of dishes.  We got to see the open kitchen in the center of the room alive with activity, and we can only imagine how much more energy there will be when all the seats are filled, too.

Of course we took some pictures, and we also took the time to chat up sommelier Matthew Carroll about the challenges of creating appropriate pairings for a 24-course tasting menu while we were there.

Photos, conversation and “olive paper” after the jump. (more…)

For most of us, July 4th is a day to sit back and relax as we celebrate our nation’s independence.  For Jose Andres, not so much.  The outgoing head of the ThinkFoodGroup has a busy Monday lined up, what with the opening of his new America Eats Tavern and his work with the National Archives’ “What’s Cooking Uncle Sam?” exhibit. We even got an inside tip on what he’ll be doing that morning (which we’ll share after the jump).

America Eats, conceived as a complement to the exhibit, is a pop-up restaurant that has possessed the body of Cafe Atlantico on 8th Street, NW in Penn Quarter.  The restaurant features seating on three levels and a significant facelift that focuses on iconic American images and artwork.  And although the menu is not yet complete, Andres has promised a bill of fare that will serve as a history lesson on a plate, featuring historically significant American recipes along with background information on where, when and why.

We had a chance to drop by the restaurant yesterday and take a look around.  They’ll be working around the clock between now and lunchtime Monday to make sure it’s all ready to go, but what we saw was already well on its way to completion, and there are some decorations that will make you stop and smile no matter where you enter the story of America’s dietary history.

Details and photos – including an impromptu chat with Archivist of the United States David Ferriero – after the jump. (more…)

Admit it.  There’s at least one cuisine out there that intimidates you.  Whether it’s because of a language barrier, a seemingly complicated dining ritual or unfamiliar ingredients, you’re content to enjoy the countless other restaurants in the DC area and leave that one cuisine to the initiated.

Whatever your hang-up, Northern Virginia Magazine’s Warren Rojas wants to help.  Beginning with the June issue of the magazine (currently on newstands), he’s enrolling his readers in “Food U,” a hand-held guide to some of the most intriguing (and intimidating) cuisines that can be found in NoVA communities.  He’s hoping to help readers better understand the cultural identities that go into iconic dishes with the goal of encouraging them to step outside their culinary comfort zones.

When we first heard about the concept and its online counterpart, Graze Anatomy, we reached out to Rojas to find out what he has in store for readers.  He walked us through the concept, the connection between the Food U piece and the online video, and an early taste of the next edition.

Details after the jump.

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With all the group-buying websites out there now, we’re starting to think that we may never pay full price for a meal again.  Unless, of course, we forget the deal certificate.  Don’t laugh – it’s happened to us more than once and it stings every time.

Well you’re (we’re) in luck.  The deal sites are going out of their way to come up with innovative ways to enhance and streamline your experience.  You can redeem some sites’ discounts via iPhone or Android-capable smart phone.  Others remind you when you’ve got a coupon that’s about to expire.

At LivingSocial, they’ve found a way to make it easier for you to take advantage of their specials in the first place: Instant Deals.  These real-time coupons offer deep discounts to nearby establishments, and they can be purchased and redeemed immediately, unlike traditional deals that can only be accessed and used after the sales period has ended.

Sounds like a brilliant way to save some cash at lunchtime, doesn’t it?  Well that’s what the folks at LivingSocial think, too.  They’re test-marketing the concept here in DC (their hometown) prior to taking it to other top markets.  And to give you a taste of just how well it works, they’re launching a massive promotional campaign today.

From 11 AM to 2 PM, more than 100 vendors will offer lunch deals for just ONE DOLLAR EACH.  Log in to LivingSocial via your mobile phone, and they’ll hook you up with a list of participating restaurants within a half-mile of your current location.  You could eat more than 5 meals for the price of a certain sandwich chain’s daily foot-long special…assuming you can hit them all in that three-hour window.

Deals vary from restaurant to restaurant, with most coming down in the $10 to $20 range, with a few standouts giving away as much as $25.  And they only cost you $1 each.  Just remember to tip your server (where appropriate) on the full check, not the amount after discounts and coupons.

The full list of participating restaurants after the jump. (more…)

Photo credit: Bravo

We have to give credit where credit is due.  The chefs who came back for this All-Star season of Top Chef have given us lots of reasons to root for them.  And the quality of this season has done a lot to wash the bad taste of Season 7 (filmed here in Washington) out of fans’ mouths.

By the end of tonight’s episode, we’ll be down to four remaining chefs.  And if bringing an extra chef along to the finale in the Bahamas means we get one additional week of sunny skies and killer cooking, we’re all for that.

Yesterday, we shared our interview with Mike Isabella as we head into the finals.  Today, we’ve got our pick for fan favorite, Carla Hall.  There’s something about the way Carla seems to root for everyone to succeed that is endearing and rare on competition shows like Top Chef.  Watching her fall short of her own expectations – especially when working with “her flavors” and cuisines – is heartbreaking.  But we’re not telling you anything you haven’t already seen for yourself.

We talked to Carla about her deceptively strong performance so far, her involvement with local causes, and some of the things she’s got in the works:

Capital Spice: You’ve really come out swinging this season!  Three Elimination Challenge wins, three big prizes.  How does it feel so far?
Carla Hall: It’s great, but I really don’t know when Matthew [her husband] and I are going to get a chance to take all those trips.

CS: Beyond the trips, you seemed really excited to win Jimmy Fallon’s challenge.  Are you that big a fan of his?
CH: There were two things going on there.  I’m definitely a fan of Jimmy’s, and it was so much fun to be on his show.  He really is just like you’d expect him to be.  But I’ve got a personal connection to chicken pot pie as well: that’s the first thing I ever tried to cook for myself back when I was modeling and going back and forth to Paris.

CS: So this was a recipe you’ve made before?
CH: It was, though I’ve never tried to make the upper crust by forming them around cookware like I did.  I’m glad it worked out!

More of Carla’s projects in the works after the jump.

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Some things are just meant to be.  The stars line up, you find yourself in the right place at the right time, and you’re handed something you didn’t even know you were looking for.  It can be a job opportunity, or a romantic connection, or something even deeper than those.

For us, it was bacon.

On January 26th, Mike read Bonnie Benwick’s profile of Mrs. Wheelbarrow and the Yummy Mummy’s tandem charcuterial endeavor and everything just fell into place.  We were just gearing up to start another one of our Cookbook Challenges – an attempt to winnow our ever-growing collection of cookbooks by attempting a new recipe from each one to make sure we still found the books helpful.  In fact, one of the first books Elizabeth reached for was Mike’s copy of Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s “Charcuterie: the Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing.”  Although he had received it a little over a year earlier, he had yet to attempt any feats of cured meat.

Enter “Charcutepalooza.”  The article made it sound tasty and fun all at the same time, and anyone who has read at least a few of our posts knows our love of all things brined, cured or smoked.  So we reached out to Mrs. Wheelbarrow through her website and decided to throw ourselves into the challenge along with the hundreds of other bloggers who have signed on.  A contest with some killer prizes has no doubt piqued the interest of some, but most seem genuinely motivated by the spirit that inspired the ladies to begin with.

The process seemed easy enough.  Each month a new pair of challenges is announced, with one for novices and one for those seeking a more intense assignment.  We all agree to work on the challenges ourselves and blog about our results on the 15th of each month.  We’ll continue like this throughout 2011, having cooked our way through a dozen recipes (more if you try both challenges in any given month) by the time we’re through.

So why am I up at 11:30 on a Monday night (Valentine’s Day, no less) waiting for my homemade bacon to reach an internal 150 degrees Fahrenheit?  My delicious, unintentional procrastination after the jump. (more…)

When it comes to food, Seth Cooper knows that process matters.  He embraces the “Fresh, Local, Seasonal” ethos and he even makes his own cheese.  But he found himself frustrated over and over again as he tried to bring that mentality to meat.

From 2006 to 2008, Cooper lived in England and enjoyed farmers’ markets right on his street where butchers would bring freshly dressed cuts of meat to sell.  He loved the freshness and the more assertive flavor of the grass-fed beef.  He could ask questions about the differences between breeds of cattle and even between different steaks taken from the same animal.

Upon arrival in Washington, he found a kindred spirit in Jon Wrinn.  Together, the two engineers sought to tear down all the barriers that the meat industry has built up between the farm and the fork.  They visited butcher shops and market stalls trying to find knowledgeable purveyors offering top-quality local meats, but they found that combination in short supply.  They even toyed with the idea of butchering their own animals before buying a cow and splitting it among a group of friends.  They felt so strongly about what they were doing, they traveled to Penn State’s Meat Laboratory to take classes regarding the regulations and procedures governing small-scale butchering operations.

Thankfully, they came to the conclusion that they couldn’t be the only ones who were looking for this, and so they’ve set out to make it easier for others.  Thus was born White House Meats.  Their idea: bring grass-fed, dry-aged, locally-raised beef to Washingtonians in a way that allows them to promote the cause and have some fun at the same time.  Their method: The Meat-Up.

What is a Meat-Up and how can you get the hook-up?  Find out after the jump. (more…)