If you read BYT you are probably aware our food section is in shambles. There has not been a restaurant reviewed in months and at this point the articles consist of free ice-cream day announcements and cheetos commercials. So-if you would like to help email us at info@brightestyoungthings.com. Do it. We love food, we just don’t know how to write about it.
Other than that, in food-news-you-can-use -this weekend THE RAMMIES WERE GIVEN OUT.
In case you didn’t know, the Rammies are sort of the food olympics for those who:
a. love to eat
b. love to eat in DC
c. love to eat well in DC
so we deemed the winner list to be exciting enough to post/discuss and just use as a cheat sheet for those days when only the best “informal restaurant of the year” or “the best bar scene” will do
(see last year’s winners here for compare and contrast purposes)
New Restaurant of the Year:
The Source by Wolfgang Puck
Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year:
Equinox
Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year:
Poste Moderne Brasserie
Chef of the Year:
Eric Ziebold, CityZen
Pastry Chef of the Year:
Heather Chittum, Hook
Wine & Beverage Program of the Year:
Passion Food Hospitality
Rising Culinary Star of the Year:
Barton Seaver, Hook
Restaurant Manager of the Year:
Molly McWhorter, Chef Geoff’s Downtown
Restaurant Employee of the Year:
Joel Guagliano, Zaytinya
Neighborhood Gathering Place:
Hank’s Oyster Bar - DC
Hottest Bar Scene of the Year:
Central Michel Richard
Power Spot of the Year:
The Oceanaire Seafood Room
Voter’s Favorite:
The Monocle on Capitol Hill
all images: Will Cotton
all future comments: by you.
woot to joel @ the z for best employee
July 1, 2008 at 4:57 pmbarton seaver is amazing.
everythings he’s touched has become better for it.
st. ex is amazing and im sad that hes leaving hook
July 1, 2008 at 5:19 pmBart makes good food. Hook’s service was absolute shit. I am _Rarely_ maltreated by a restaurant, but I was by Hook. Back-of-house is only half the story.
July 1, 2008 at 5:43 pmRestaurants rip you off. Make your own food. Added bonus is you can hang your balls out and watch Judge Judy while you eat your Artichoke Gratinata and Prawns and Scallops with Fleur de Sel, which is what I just did.
Paying for atmosphere makes you dumb.
July 1, 2008 at 6:13 pmSome restaurants rip you off, but sometimes you get lucky. A friend and I went to the opening of Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington and Michael Landrum was giving out everything FREE till 8. I highly suggest the brie/bacon/roasted garlic burger. If the mouth is indeed the new pussy, this burger is the new cock.
July 2, 2008 at 9:16 amVelvet - you’re right and I misspoke. Not all restaurants rip you off. Five Guys, for example, doesn’t rip you off. I’ve tried and really don’t save any money making the same burger they do, plus there’s the time involved.
I meant fancy, expensive, “scene” restaurants do. $40 steak? Fuck you. I can make a better one for 1/3 the price and do it the right way, in an Iron Skillet (which is infinitely better than on the grill). $18 salads? $60 Patagonian toothfish?
People are dumb.
July 2, 2008 at 9:52 amiron skillet better than the grill???? are you ruling out a charcoal pit as well? wtf, skillet
July 2, 2008 at 11:00 amI feel ya, sometimes it feels like they should give you a little travel sampler of astroglide with the check.
Patagonian toothfish? Now that the words out, someboy will make that shit into a fancy patagonian toothfish/chilean sea bass salad sandwich served with bacon and gruyere infused tater tots and charge you your firstborns kidneys for it within the year.
I agree people are dumb.
July 2, 2008 at 11:11 amEddie - the best steak is made in an iron skillet, bar none. It’s not up for discussion.
July 2, 2008 at 12:10 pmi grill with charcoal, you throw on the iron, amanda will judge. this is not up for disussion. the end.
July 2, 2008 at 12:31 pmFirst up in the new food section: STEAK-OFF!!!
July 2, 2008 at 12:45 pmLoser has to pay the price of the other’s steak. Also you may wish to re-think having Amanda choose, or any girl, really, considering how good looking I am. I’d hate them to be swayed by my sheer attractiveness. I am all about this being fair.
July 2, 2008 at 12:57 pmjason bond and amanda both can judge. i don’t wanna lose out to your devastatingly good looks. you ham. i mean steak.
we can do it in my back yard. don’t read into that.
July 2, 2008 at 1:06 pmJason if you want any other old motorcycle parts you know the deal…
July 2, 2008 at 1:20 pmthis contest is rigged. ok, one of the judges should be my mom.
July 2, 2008 at 2:17 pmI have had equally mind-blowing experiences with both steak au poivre and steak au grill, which makes me basically the perfect judge for this contest. Plus I’m a bachelor who needs other people to cook for him whenever possible.
July 2, 2008 at 2:24 pmcan this be the One and Only Jason Bond, formerly and perhaps still of Sacramento??? and of course, friend and pastry chef EXTRAORDINAIRE!!!???
July 5, 2008 at 4:43 pm
That is all.
July 1, 2008 at 3:22 pm