We know you’ll be using long-tested, foolproof family recipes for Thursday’s meal. But between the hordes of people clamoring for oven space and trying to coordinate everything coming out hot at the same time, there’s bound to be a snafu somewhere along the way. We want to know about your past Thanksgiving disasters—while they were surely traumatizing at the time, in hindsight it was pretty funny, right? And now you know that when you’re finishing the turkey at 425 degrees, cover the stuffing and potatoes with foil, and use two hands when taking the pie out. What disasters have you encountered in the past?
Tasked with the daunting job of handling the turkey this year? Fret not. We stopped by Georgetown’s 1789 for a demonstration from executive chef Daniel Giusti. In our video below, Giusti shows everything you need to know about properly preparing the bird, from brining to trussing, basting, and carving. You’re welcome!
Get a head start on holiday baking plus a few new recipes with Open Kitchen’s (7115 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church) course on cookies. In a three-hour hands-on class, instructor Angie Lee will cover pistachio/cherry/dark-chocolate chunk, apple/cranberry/oatmeal, checkerboard shortbread, and drei augen (German shortbread). Tuition is $75 and includes a box of cookies to take home. Click here for more.
Tuesday, November 24
Raise your glass and give thanks at a beer dinner at Belga Café, (514 Eighth St., SE) which will showcase Belgian Christmas brews and winter ales. The three-course, seven-beer dinner is $49 per person. Reserve your spot by calling 202-544-0100.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but then I saw this,” said Adam Longworth, holding up a clear plastic card with purple-and-gold writing. “I was looking at turkeys and they were going to break my budget. Then I saw the sign that said if you had a Giant card the turkey was only $12.”
The 701 chef had accepted our Frugal Foodie challenge to cook Thanksgiving dinner for six for less than $50, not including pantry items. He was taking it seriously. He beat me to the grocery store in order to scout out ingredients. He insisted that the amount of sugar and butter he needed would be more than what’s considered fair pantry item use and included both in his budget. And now he was the proud owner of a Giant card so he could save a few extra dollars.
Every Friday, we fill you in on what’s been happening in the local restaurant world.
• Richard Blais, a Top Chef season-four finalist, announced that he’s bringing his Flip Burger Boutique to DC’s Penn Quarter next year. The slogan for the restaurant, which Blais would like to make a nationwide chain, is “fine dining between two buns,” and the first location is in Atlanta. The menu there has 20 burgers, which include such ingredients as Japanese Kobe beef, foie gras, kimchee ketchup, and pickled apples. Sides include vodka-battered onion rings with beer honey mustard and veal-sweetbread nuggets. The molecular-gastronomy fanatic also has liquid-nitrogen milkshakes whose flavors include Krispy Kreme, pistachio-and-white-truffle, and foie gras.
Back in 2007, The Washingtonian food critic Todd Kliman examined the pizza boom that had started to take over Washington. Since then, the boom has transformed into a full-fledged golden age—one which we recently celebrated with our Pizza Pool contest.
One of the frontrunners of the area’s pizza renaissance is Café Pizzaiolo, owned by former Smithsonian culinary director Larry Ponzi. The Crystal City pizzeria has built a reputation on its crisp crusts and unfussy pies, which are more street than boutique. Ponzi’s spicy spin on the New York-style pizza, the Diavala, is one of the most popular items on the menu. The dough is prepared with a sourdough starter and later topped with whole-milk mozzarella, Italian sausage, and roasted peppers. If reading this is making you hungry, just wait until you see Ponzi demonstrate how to make the pizza in our video below.
Vidalia chef/owner Jeff Buben has experimented with lots of macaroni-and-cheese recipes since the restaurant opened in the early ‘90s, but he and chef RJ Cooper didn’t settle on one until 2½ years ago. Since then, this version laden with creamy Mornay sauce has been a staple at the restaurant—Cooper takes it off the menu only in July or August because he feels the creamy side dish is too heavy for summer. The reader who requested the recipe isn’t the only fan: Cooper says he sends out about 40 orders on a Saturday night.
It’s crucial to make sure the cream doesn’t boil or scorch, Cooper says. Otherwise, “you’ll just taste burnt flour.” He also suggests trying fillings other than smoked ham—good options are lobster, crayfish, and this time of year, black or white truffles.
Though Ann Limpert graduated from Connecticut College with a degree in art history and creative writing, she spent most of her time in New England debating the merits of warm, buttery lobster rolls vs. cold, mayo-y ones. She spent two years covering the internet for Entertainment Weekly magazine (highlights include interviewing the Beastie Boys and dancing to "Livin' la Vida Loca" with Penn Jillette), then left to hone her kitchen skills at the Institute of Culinary Education. She has worked as a cook at several New York restaurants, researched and edited cookbooks, and now writes about food and restaurants for the Washingtonian.
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Kate Nerenberg
Kate Nerenberg started as an editorial intern at The Washingtonian in January 2008 and became an assistant editor in September 2008. A native of West Hartford, Connecticut, she spent the first half of her writing life as a sports reporter, and was the editor of the athletics section for the newspaper and student-run magazine while at Middlebury College. A joint Spanish and Art History major, Kate graduated in 2005 and took off on a year-long journey around the world. After tasting everything from fried crickets to lavish Turkish breakfasts, she realized she wanted to devote herself to writing about food, a lifelong passion. She lives with three roommates just east of Logan Circle in a house that's often filled with the smell of sauteed garlic, warm banana bread, or fried bacon and eggs.
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Rina Rapuano
Rina Rapuano's English degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond put her on the path to becoming a managing editor of a weekly business magazine; a freelance copy editor; and assistant managing news editor—and later the lifestyles editor—at a weekly paper in Maryland. But she realized her true calling when her descriptions of meals to friends and colleagues always seemed to end with the same statement: “You're making me hungry.” Frankly, it was making Rina hungry, too. She chucked her day job in 2006 to become a full-time freelance writer focusing mainly on food, and now works as assistant food and wine editor at The Washingtonian.
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