Celebrity chef Art Smith—memorable Top Chef Masters contestant and former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey—always has a lot going on. Recent days are no exception. The Art and Soul owner recently debuted a new look for his Capitol Hill restaurant, published his latest cookbook, Art Smith’s Healthy Comfort, and launched the national Taking Diabetes to Heart campaign to better educate those faced with the disease. Smith, who lost more than 100 pounds himself after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, dished to The Washingtonian about developing healthy recipes, his new restaurant plans for Washington (including in its airports), cooking for the Obamas, and his stance on the food truck situation.
When did you first make the President the recipe for President Barack Obama’s Favorite Glazed Salmon, which appears in Healthy Comfort ?
I made that some time ago. I’ve known the President [since] before he was President—I first met him through Oprah around 2005, and he’s my neighbor in Chicago. At that time I was cooking for Oprah and for the First Family. That recipe was one of his favorites. He’s from Hawaii, and that kind of sweet glaze is very popular.
If you could cook the Obamas any recipe from the book, what would it be?
Knowing their taste—well, they like most everything. There’s a salmon with lentils and mushrooms that’s a really great dish. They’re very fish-driven, and it’s one of my favorite recipes in the book.
Some of the recipes in the book are now on the menu at Art and Soul. Any particular favorites there?
I love my Art Start, which has been on the menu since day one. It’s a really delicious oatmeal. I’ve eaten oatmeal for breakfast for three years. It’s served with berries and Greek yogurt. We also have an egg-white omelet out of the book. In California, at Lyfe Kitchen, we have the un-fried chicken and egg sandwich. Chef Wes [Morton] is working with the book now to bring the various recipes as specials and put them on the menu. For me, learning how to get your act together starts with eating breakfast. I think it’s the most important meal of the day, so that’s where most of my focus has been at the moment.
From hoagies to haute cuisine: Chef Taub preps plates for his new weekly dinner series. Photograph courtesy of Bub and Pop’s.
Since opening in late February, Dupont sandwich joint Bub and Pop’s has been the kind of place to roll up your sleeves and dig into a braised beef brisket sandwich dripping with jus (great for soaking up the booze on weekend nights, when it’s open until 3 AM). Still, it’s obvious chef and co-owner Jon Taub aspires to more than stuffed hoagies—note the jars of seasonal pickles displayed across the counter, and the fact that nearly everything on the menu gets prepped in house. The next step: Bub’s Sunday Table, a monthly supper club where Taub transforms the counter-order eatery into a dining room to serve an 11-course tasting menu to a dozen guests. “People come in late night [on Saturday] and they’re fighting outside, and the next day we have foie gras ballotines,” says Taub.
Last night’s James Beard restaurant and chef awards may have been filled with celebrity toques, but one of Washington’s hometown classics was also recognized: C.F. Folks, the 32-year-old Dupont luncheonette, was honored with the foundation’s America’s Classic Award. The title is given to those locally owned institutions with “timeless appeal” and a sense of community. As owner Art Carlson notes, “C.F. Folks is a lunch counter. Nothing more than a simple lunch counter.” Still, you’ll see in the video that it means much more to its guests and regulars. (Keep an eye out for The Washingtonian’s own Kate Bennett.)
Check out the other Washington nominees and winners from the 2013 James Beard Awards.
Chef Johnny Monis won big at the James Beard awards on Monday night. Photograph by Scott Suchman.
The first words out of chef Johnny Monis’s mouth after he accepted his James Beard award on Monday night? “Anne Marler.” The Komi and Little Serow restaurateur thanked his wife and business partner, then offered appreciation to the staff and support teams that helped the couple achieve their successes.
Monis earned the honor of Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, a title he was also up for in 2012 and 2011. His competition this year: Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore; Vikram Sunderam, chef at Rasika; and repeat nominee Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve. The occasion also marks a victory for Washington following a complete shutout in 2012.
Other Washington nominees this year included CityZen, which lost Outstanding Wine Program to Frasca in Boulder, Colorado. Minibar's design scored a nom in the under-75-seats category, but that award went instead to Isa in Brooklyn. C.F. Folks received the honorary America's Classics award.
Monis, whose quiet demeanor contrasts with the stereotype of the bombastic, ego-fueled chef, has had a good run over the past months. In February, news came that GQ considered Serow, his tiny Thai spot on 17th Street, Northwest, the most outstanding restaurant of the year. The restaurant had already earned a spot among Bon Appétit’s Hot 10 eateries in 2012. Both Komi and Little Serow ranked among this publication’s top ten in 2013, snagging the second and seventh spots, respectively.
The complete list of restaurant and chef awards appears on the JBF website.
The chicken Parm sandwich at G. Photograph by Greg Powers.
With no opening date announced for the long-awaited Kapnos and G on 14th Street, many of us are getting anxious to sample the goods. Well, an opportunity has presented itself. The Jersey-bred Graffiato restaurateur and Top Chef breakout star will preview G’s menu of sandwiches at his Penn Quarter spot (707 Sixth Street, Northwest) May 13 through 17 from 11:30 to 2. In the same month, Isabella will launch G GrabandGo in Edison, New Jersey, in collaboration with his sister and brother-in-law.
In February, Isabella gave us the scoop on what to expect at G—there will be some familiar favorites from Graffiato, including the popular roasted cauliflower and the Caesar salad with cream-cheese croutons, four sorts of sandwiches, and, at night, a tasting menu featuring seasonal ingredients. The pop-up will showcase limited offerings from the full menu, including a roasted suckling pig sub, a chicken Parmigiano sandwich, and a Greek salad with red wine vinaigrette. You can check out the offerings after the jump.
Get this for free on Tuesday. Photograph by Scott Suchman.
No Tuesday lunch plans? Good news. DGS Delicatessen marks the official launch of its to-go lunch counter at 1317 Connecticut Avenue, Northwest, with free pastrami sandwiches for the first 50 customers on May 7. The pastrami is smoked in house and stacked between slices of mustard-slathered rye bread. Other options (check out the full menu after the jump) include whitefish salad on a Montreal-style bagel with tomato jam, fried capers, and thinly sliced radishes, and egg salad on pumpernickel with butter lettuce, harissa, and gribenes (chicken skin cracklins). The restaurant’s excellent matzo-ball soup is also available to go for $7.
A fancy riff on a Peruvian causa—Albisu reimagined the salad for the Penn Quarter palate, emphasizing sea-sourced proteins over starchy tubers. Photographs by Jeff Elkins.
Inspired by the cuisines of Peru, Argentina, and their regional neighbors, Del Campo is a fine-dining restaurant that also embraces the rustic side of South American eating—note the Argentinian penguin decanters lining shelves behind the wine bar, and the bar-goers negotiating towering street-style sandwiches, egg yolk running off their chins.
Chef/owner Victor Albisu loves all things smoked and charred—even the bread comes with smoked olive oil—and blackened food shows up everywhere. For instance: Grilled octopus and avocado top a fancy version of a Peruvian causa with grilled octopus, tuna confit, and ramps prepared three ways. Berkshire pork chicharrones—an appetizer offering ribs and belly—taste both tender and charred.
Albisu says Del Campo’s early diners have leaned toward the chivito sandwich on the bar menu, opening wide to wrap their lips around layers of Wagyu beef, mortadella, ham, provolone, fried egg, grilled olive salad, and hearts of palm mayonnaise, as well as the tuna ceviche and the chef’s asado boards, soon to be featured at a reservations-only chef’s table with a view into the kitchen.
A happy hour menu of $7 drinks (including grilled-juice cocktails)has
already debuted at the bar. Coming soon: a streetside patio and lunch service—the
latter should start in about two weeks.
Del Campo. 777 I St., NW; 202-289-7377. Dining room open Monday through Wednesday 5:30 to 10:30; Thursday through Saturday 5:30 to 11. Bar open Monday through Wednesday 5 to 11:30; Thursday through Saturday 5 to midnight. Restaurant open Sunday 5 to 10.
Ghost people party at the Donovan House rooftop, due to debut in mid-May. (Note: some details in the images will change.) Renderings courtesy of GrizForm.
Attention, outdoor drinkers: We have word that Kimpton Hotels will debut a revamped rooftop deck called DNV at the Donovan House Hotel (1155 14th St., NW) in mid-May. Local designers GrizForm helmed the $300,000 remodel of the poolside patio, updating it with dark woods, chrome, and lots of glass.
Jennifer Nyugen, chef at Zentan downstairs, will oversee a menu of shareable Asian tapas. A rep for the restaurant says dishes include rock shrimp tempura with kochojang (a Korean condiment with chilies, glutinous rice, and fermented soy beans), aïoli, and candied walnuts; watermelon salad with Maryland blue crab, shaved hearts of palm, and
pink peppercorns; and pork-stuffed shumai dumplings with chili-ponzu dipping sauce.
Drinks come courtesy of Zentan bar manager Joshua Berner, formerly of Ripple. In addition to a Pimm’s Cup on tap, the list will feature tea-based drinks served in glass jars. Among the ingredients: house-made lemon bitters, citrus-chamomile-tea-infused Beefeater gin, and strawberry-infused tequila real; Berner will combine the last with lemon juice and verbena-mint tea. He will also serve shareable drinks designed for parties of 4 to 12 people. Look for a daily happy hour from 5 to 7 featuring specials on punches, sangrias, frozen drinks, specialty drinks, and spiced rum.
Now, let’s just hope the sun comes back.
See also:
22 Places to Drink Outside Around Washington (Plus Specials)
Best of 2013: Shandies Under the Stars
Brigade: A New Company for the Post-Revolution Cocktail Culture
Bajaj’s brasserie mixes tradition—burgundy booths, steak frites—with seasonal American and Asian-influenced dishes. Photograph by Andrew Propp.
On May 6, Ashok Bajaj’s rapidly expanding empire—which includes Ardeo + Bardeo, 701, the Oval Room, and Bombay Club—welcomes a new eatery to the fold. NoPa, Bajaj’s first brasserie, will be his third Penn Quarter spot. (Rasika and Bibiana are the first two.)
The Logan Circle pork palace gets a new chef next Monday. Photographs by Jeff Martin.
We’re at the end of a big week for chef shuffles. First Billy McCormick of the Eat Well DC restaurant group—which includes restaurants such as the Pig and Logan Tavern—moved to helm the kitchen at Virtue Feed & Grain. Then the Pig’s Garret Fleming discussed plans with Eater DC for a new gastropub after leaving his post at the pork-centric restaurant. Cork’s Rob Weland is out as of Wednesday and bound (temporarily) for Italy; Cork Market chef Kristin Hutter will take his place. The latest move came this morning back over with the Eat Well folks, who announced that former Sonoma executive chef Michael Bonk is in at the Pig.
Bonk has been consulting at H Street English spot the Queen Vic since leaving his four-year post at Sonoma in January. He officially starts his new position on Monday, May 6. You’ll start to see his influence in specials on the swine-centric menu soon after; early ideas include dishes he cooked in a taste test for the owners, including Kashmiri-style pork belly curry and sausage-stuffed squid with piquillo peppers. Bonks says eventually the entire menu will change to reflect his cooking style, with the exception of a few crowd favorites such as the porchetta and meatballs. You may find a special emphasis on offal dishes—from approachable chicken skin to more out-there cockscombs—and pork paired with seafood, as in the calamari dish. While the infamous pig’s blood sundae isn’t currently on the menu, you’ll find other porky desserts such as a pork sticky bun in the near future.
Outside the kitchen, the toque plans for more neighborhood outreach and community involvement, having been active in programs like Chefs Move to Schools.
“We owe it to the neighborhood and the city we’re in to give back. That’s part of being a chef,” says Bonk.
