Capital Spice

So you’re in the mood for a drink but you’re sick of your usual and the last time you mixed something creative for yourself was at that party junior year (and that didn’t go so well).  You’re in luck, as that’s pretty much exactly the kind of problem that Tom and Derek Brown created the Passenger to address.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, next week is your chance to do so with thirty of your closest food blogger friends.  The eleventh installment in our monthly DC Food Blogger Happy Hour series will take place on Wednesday, July 7th at the Passenger.  From 6 to 8 PM you’ll be able to belly up to the bar and try some of their creative (or ultra-traditional) cocktail offerings, or tap into their vast knowledge of spirits to find your next personal favorite.

This month Thrifty DC Cook has taken the lead on organizing the Happy Hour, and she promises plenty of delicious surprises for anyone who comes out to join us.  We are DC food bloggers, after all.  For more information on what’s in store, make sure you check out the event on Facebook.  While you’re there, take a second to respond and let us know if you’ll be coming so we can give the folks at the Passenger fair warning.

The Passenger is located at 1021 7th Street, across from the Convention Center just north of Mount Vernon Square.  Not coincidentally, you can get to the Passenger by taking the Metro to the Mount Vernon Square / 7th Street – Convention Center stop on the Yellow and Green Lines.  Street parking is available – but limited – in the nearby area.

Hope to see you there!

At 9PM tonight, the wait is over.  All that speculating about the challenges; all the sightings of Tom, Padma and Gail; all the shopping, chopping and cooking were completed more than a month ago.   Now it’s time to sit back and “watch what happens.”

Yesterday, we presented our interview with DC native and current Baltimore chef Timothy Dean.  Today, we’ve got our conversation with the only Cheftestant from this season who didn’t leave town when the cameras stopped rolling: the Oval Room’s Tamesha Warren.

Image courtesy of Bravo

Warren is a sous chef at the celebrated downtown power spot and previously cooked in the kitchen of Jean-Georges so you know her technique is SOLID.  As the youngest contestant in the field and the hometown favorite, she’s got a lot of pressure on her to do well.  Fortunately, it sounds like she’s up to the challenge:

Capital Spice: Good morning, chef.  How have you been since taping ended?
Tamesha Warren: It’s been crazy already.  The producers warned us to be ready, but I really didn’t expect it to blow up the way it has.  Just the other night there was a party in the restaurant asking for “the lady who’s going to be on Top Chef!”

CS: You’re the sous chef at the Oval Room, one of Ashok Bajaj’s restaurants.  How did he react to you going on the show?
TW: Bajaj is a great person to work for – anything he can do for you, he will.  He was very supportive of my participation.

Age as an asset or liability, DC dining favorites and how YOU may have helped Tamesha prepare after the jump. (more…)

As you may have noticed from some of our posts over the past few months, we’ve been expecting an addition to the Capital Spice family.  I’m proud to announce that the wait came to an end last Wednesday.  We’ve now got our very own Baby Spice!

So what did we do to mark the occasion?

Well, we took a week off from writing, for one thing.  Apologies to those of you who checked in regularly last week – we were hoping to pre-write some posts but the time got away from us.

Once we got home, though, we celebrated like any foodie couple would.  We reacquainted ourselves with some old friends that were off-limits during the pregnancy.  I paid a visit to Cheesetique to pick up a few favorites: Roquefort, St. Andre, raw milk cheddar.  We enjoyed them with some aged prosciutto and a sparkling rosé from J Vineyards (which we visited during our trip to Sonoma last year).

For us, it’s been interesting to see the health care community’s approach to food at various stages throughout the pregnancy.  Blanket prohibitions against certain categories of food perplexed us, as they usually did not come with clear explanations as to why.  Recommendations of some things seemed counter-intuitive to our “eat fresh, eat local” perspective.  And then there’s hospital food…

Elizabeth has plenty of thoughts on the subject, and I know she’ll be writing about them in the near future.

And what does this mean for Capital Spice?

At some point, it will mean that you’ll be able to get three opinions, instead of just two, when we check out a new restaurant.  But for now, it’s business as usual.  We don’t dine out quite as often as we used to, but that just makes it that much more important for us to seek out the best quality and value at restaurants both old and new – and to share them with you.  You can also continue to expect plenty of recipes from our own kitchen as the local farmers’ market season heats up.  And there are plenty of restaurant openings on the near horizon; we’ll be sure to provide you with information as we receive it!

We’ll also have plenty of exciting news and insights into Top Chef DC as the new season debuts next Wednesday.  As you may recall, we held a contest soliciting challenge ideas for a Washington-based season at the end of last year.  Who knew the folks at Bravo would be paying such close attention?

Check in with us next week and throughout the season for cast interviews, behind-the-scenes details (we may have been invited to a taping or two…) and a regular feature for national fans of the show providing the background of what makes each challenge so uniquely DC.

Thanks for reading!

Have you been watching Top Chef Masters?  Even though Susur Lee is credited as representing Toronto, the highest-scoring chef in the show’s history has a connection to Washington in the form of his newest restaurant.  Zentan at the Donovan House features Lee’s take on refined (and redefined) Asian cuisine.

To celebrate Lee’s performance – and to enjoy another new hot spot with friends – the DC Food Blogger Happy Hour will take place at Zentan next Wednesday, June 2nd.  We’ll get started at 6 PM and run until at least 8, and we’re going to be in the restaurant’s private dining room.  Happy hour specials will include $7 beers, $7 glasses of wine and $7 specialty cocktails.

If you’re feeling hungry, be sure to check out some of their sushi or go all out and order the nineteen-ingredient Singapore slaw.  We’ll also be there during their regular “Lucky 7′s” happy hour, so we’ll be able to enjoy $7 small plates that run the gamut from steamed pork dumplings to fluke sashimi.

As always, we ask that you join us on our Facebook page to let us know if you’ll be able to attend.  We’re already at 45 guests and counting, so this one should be BIG!  While you’re there, take a moment and let us know where you would like to do a future Food Blogger Happy Hour – chances are you’re not alone.

Image from Le Bernardin website

On Friday night, DC foodies have a chance to see a pair of bonafide celebrity chefs doing what they do second best: sitting around laughing and chatting with each other on all kinds of topics.  Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert are coming to the Warner Theater for what is being billed as “an evening of storytelling and observation providing the audience with a frank and provocative back and forth about what really goes on behind the kitchen doors- from both ends of the spectrum.”

That’s right.  Bourdain and Ripert.  Onstage.  Together.  Just hanging out, you know, like a pair of bros.  And you can join them (maybe even ask them a question if you get lucky).

It’s a total foodie geek-out opportunity, and the bonhomie between the two chefs pretty much guarantees it’s going to be a good time.  To this day one of my favorite episodes of “No Reservations” involved Bourdain getting back on the line at Les Halles and eventually being joined by Ripert on the fish station.  Grub Street has a great reminder of just what fun the episode was to watch.

We had a chance to chat with Eric Ripert in advance of his visit, and we took the opportunity to ask him about the show, his “regular guest judge” role on the upcoming DC-based season of Top Chef, and how much the city’s dining scene has changed since he was cooking at the Watergate twenty years ago:

Capital Spice: Good afternoon, Chef.  Thanks for talking with us today.  We’re already looking forward to your show on Friday night – what can you tell us about it?
Eric Ripert: It’s going to be a lot of fun.  The setup is one of a moderated conversation, with a question and answer period at the end.

CS: Can you give us an idea of what you’ll be talking about?
ER: It’s hard to say…for us, it really is going to be a conversation, and we have a very easy dynamic.  But I expect we will be speaking about things like the current state of “fine dining” – what it means today, the state that it’s in.  Of course, we’ll likely also talk about things like Top Chef, so there will be something for everyone.

CS: It looks like you’ve only got two of these evenings scheduled (the second is in Baltimore on Saturday night).  What made you pick DC for this?
ER: Washington is an easy choice – it’s relatively close to New York, where Tony and I are both based, I have a restaurant here, and it is a city that enjoys good food.

More of our interview with “The Ripper” – including some of his favorite recent dining experiences and some Top Chef gossip – after the jump. (more…)

It’s that time again – the first Wednesday of the month, time for the DC Food Bloggers’ Happy Hour!

You’ve joined us in Penn Quarter.  You hit Columbia Heights.  You’ve done U Street, Adams Morgan and 14th.

This time, we’re taking you to a real hot spot.  Capitol Hill.

…

Wow.  That’s still not exciting, even after all of the great new spots that have opened along Pennsylvania Avenue and near Union Station, is it?

Thankfully, the happy hour location is exciting: Art & Soul, executive chef Art Smith’s homage to down-home Southern cooking.  If you haven’t had a chance to check out their signature items like “put-ups” (pickled vegetables) and cornmeal flatbreads known as hoecakes, you won’t want to miss this.

Additional details – including some happy hour specials in case you’re still not convinced – after the jump. (more…)

Part of the fun of being a foodie is recording your adventures in both word and still life. I’ve seen many a food blogger whip our their camera (ps – do ALL food bloggers have the Canon Rebel or what?) and angle for the best possible shot of the meal they’re about to enjoy. But I know a lot of us don’t know many tricks and tools beyond the macros setting.

Jennifer Winter is joining us as a guest blogger today to give everyone some tips on taking beautiful food photographs. 

Happy eating!

-  Elizabeth and Mike

The fun of foodie photography

photo by Jennifer Winter

I am the person you see in the newest DC hotspot, subtly revealing their camera in the hopes to capture (and do justice to) each of the plates presented from the kitchen.  I am a foodie photographer.  I appreciate picturesque landscapes, candid moments and stunning sunsets, but there is nothing like capturing the creativity, the colors, textures and overall presentation of an inventive Chef. 

 However, it can be intimidating to brandish a camera in a dimly lit room where people are striving to maintain their own private spaces and then ruin it with a bright flash.  I’ve been on the receiving end of judge mental looks of fellow patrons – its just not comfortable.  The good news is there are ways to get the shots you want, without bringing too much attention to yourself and you don’t necessarily need a professional SLR to do it. 

I have two cameras that I use for food photography and to be honest, I decide which one I am going to carry based on the size of my purse (I know, I know).  The first is a basic Canon SD800 IS point and shoot and the other camera is a Canon Rebel XTi.  No matter which size camera you use, as long as you keep in mind a few technical pointers you can achieve great food images.  

 1) Make sure to set your white balance appropriately.  Most cameras have an auto function for on-the-go circumstances, but if you have time and have the functionality on your camera use the custom option.  This will ensure that you have the most accurate measurement of color temperature for the current light conditions and you will be happier with the overall results of the image. 

More tips after the jump!

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In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of Washingtonians who blog in what passes for free time.  Washingtonian magazine has definitely noticed, and they’ve been doing readers a service by highlighting a blog every Wednesday in their “Blogger Beat.”  That’s right – a blog about bloggers.

A few weeks ago, we were contacted by Emily Leaman to see if we’d be interested in participating.  As if there were any doubt.

The results are up today.  Check it out!

And once you’re finished enjoying our sparkling wit, check out some of these previous Blogger Beat posts with our fellow DC Food Bloggers:

• Brunch and the City
• Not Derby Pie
• Mango & Tomato
• Modern Domestic
• DCBeer
• Endless Simmer
• The Arugula Files
• DC Foodies
• Pete Bakes
• Counter Intelligence
• So Good
• The Bitten Word
• Scofflaw’s Den
• Metrocurean

Even before the first DC Food Blogger Happy Hour ended last September, there were plans to do it again the following month.  The enthusiasm, the camaraderie and the fun were too good to let it go as a one-and-done thing.  But even the organizers had their doubts about whether the happy hours could last through the winter months.

On March 3rd, we’ll be holding the seventh monthly event.  This time we’ll be at Vinoteca, just off of U Street on 11th.  Come join us for a glass of wine – or a few.  Take advantage of the fact that you’re just a short walk from the Metro – and a slightly longer walk from Ben’s Chili Bowl.

The folks at Vinoteca have graciously offered to extend their normal happy hour specials for an additional hour, so we’ll be able to enjoy discounted menu items and as many as 20 wines by the glass for $5 each throughout the event.

If you haven’t joined us for a Food Blogger Happy Hour yet, you’re missing out.  It’s been truly impressive to see the way the local blogging community has really come together at these events over the past half a year.  And I know there are bloggers out there who can attest to the friendships they’ve solidified and the connections they’ve made as a result of these happy hours.

At the event, take a moment to chat with the organizers and share your thoughts about future venues.  We’re always looking for new ideas and we want to continue to highlight great locations in new neighborhoods throughout the area.

Not sure who the organizers are?  Here’s a handy list:

Arugula Files
Beer Spotter
Biscuits and Such
Capital Cooking
Capital Spice
Common Man Eats
Dining in DC
Gradually Greener
Modern Domestic
Thrifty DC Cook
We Love DC

And this month, they’ve added another way to stay in touch with your fellow food fans and bloggers: a Facebook Fan Page.  With more than 80 fans and counting, it’s a great snapshot of the DC food blogging community and a way to keep up to date on where and when events are happening.

Hope to see you there!

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.