Weekly Food News Round-Up!

September 11, 2008 by Alex Nicholson  Send to a Friend

This week brings lots of cool events, an inspiring new website, another celebrity chef and a quick thought on DC and New York Dining.

• Starting tonight and running through Thursday, Zaytinya will be a hosting a contemporary Greek food festival. Swing by for pork-belly souvlaki served with tzatziki foam and grapeleaves.
• Dino on Connecticut Avenue is doing a special menu with the last tomatoes of the summer. For $45 you can do a five-course tasting menu. That’s a great deal and Dino is always a good time.
• This Saturday in Penn Quarter make sure you swing by Arts on Foot. In its 16th year the event is all about food, music and art. Featured restaurants will include 701, The Capital Grille, Central, Nando’s Peri-Peri, Rasika, , The Source, Tosca and Zaytinya. Hotel Monaco will be doing wine tastings all day, so just go to that first - it’ll make the day better.
• Did you know September is National Bourbon Month? I didn’t either until I read this. Drink Bourbon all month.

National Geographic, always educating on cultures of the world, now has a food site. I wish this had been aorund when I was working there and I guarantee we’ll see the Natty G start doing more food events. The site offers a Foods of the World club, regional food to buy and a wealth of food related articles. Keep an eye on that space, I’m sure it’ll continue to grow.

So, who is the latest celebrity chef to land in the area. Hot piece, Gordon Ramsey. He’s taking over the Maestro space in the Ritz at Tyson’s Galleria. I ate at his newish spot at The London Hotel in New York a few months ago and was really impressed with the level of sophistication in his cooking, the attention to detail and the exceptional high level of service from the staff. This will be a nice addition to the area.

This brings me to something I’ve been thinking about all week. I just got back from New York for a work trip and spent a lot of time eating in some places I’ve had on my list. What I thought was amazing was that I kept drawing parallels back to food in D.C. I do not fall in the category of people who have an inferiority complex about DC. I don’t even think that New York has better food, just more restaurants. When we do something well in DC, we do it really really well.

I’m a big fan of Mario Batali and wish he’d get his oranged clogs down here. I’ve been to Babbo multiple times and relished my meal at the new Enoteca San Marco in the Venetian in Las Vegas. Craving pizza on Sunday I went to Otto Enoteca and Pizzeria. I had roasted peppers and capers to start and a pizza topped with shaved fennel and botarga (dried roe). It was fine, but as I ate it I realized that this buzzing hot spot had nothing on 2 Amys. The crust wasn’t as good, the sauce wasn’t as delicious. It just wasn’t as good. Open challenge to Batali, come down here and start a neopolitan pizza war.

On Monday I went to Momofuku Ssam, the legendary Asian spot from Arlington-born David Chang. I love pork, David Chang loves pork. Awesome. I started with fresh oysters with kimchi liquid, then had beef tendon in green mango and peanut sauce and followed with pork belly steam buns. The pork belly was amazing - perfectly cooked, tucked inside a puffy steam bun with a little pickled cucumber and some hoisin. I really enjoyed this and was happy to find the recipe online. But you know what’s better? The Taiwanese hamburger at Bob’s Noodle 66 in Rockville. Fatty pork inside a steam bun, pickled mustard greens, fresh cilantro, peanut powder and some sugar. Good Lord that is one fine thing to eat. Try it, you’ll freak. Momofuku is lovely, Bob’s Noodle 66 will do in a pinch. (Picture of Momofuku Steam Bun from Time Out NY)

A revelation up there was Brasserie Ruhlmann in Rockefeller Center. It’s a restaurant by Laurent Tourondel, known locally for BLT Steak. I hate the steak at BLT Steak. They serve it on sizzling cast iron dishes, which is fine for fajitas at Cactus Cantina, but the overcooks the hell out of a $40 piece of meat. At Brasserie Ruhlmann, the steak came on a plate, a normal china plates. It was probably the best I’ve had all year. Maybe one day, they stop with the cast iron here in DC and just let the meal speak for itself.

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