Pastry chef and New Orleans native David Guas, who until recently was the face behind the desserts at the Passion Food Group restaurants (DC Coast, TenPenh, Acadiana, Ceiba, Passionfish), just released his first cookbook, DamGood Sweet. Many of the recipes come with passages about the traditions—both personal and historical—that are associated with them. (Guas remembers eating powdered-sugar-covered beignets at Café du Monde as a reward for good church behavior.) Currently, Guas is working on finding a location for Bayou Bakery, which will feature many of the pastries in his cookbook. In between scouting spaces, he sat down with us to chat about what he’s making on Thanksgiving and the recipe he craves the most.
The host of video blog Wine Library TV talks about his best-kept-secret bottles, the next big wine hot spot, and what he'd pair with a bushel of crabs.
Bring on the Greek wine!
Gary Vaynerchuk, host of the video blog Wine Library TV, was at American University last week promoting his new book, Crush It! Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion. Considering the entrepreneur’s background, the title couldn’t be any more appropriate.
After immigrating from the former USSR to New Jersey, Vaynerchuk honed his wine skills at his family’s liquor store—also called Wine Library—and used social-media networks to catapult the bodega into a $60-million brand. Yet it wasn’t until Vaynerchuk launched his daily Web cast three years ago that his buzz propelled him onto Decanter magazine’s 2009 Power List. Today, Vaynerchuk’s straightforward—and often hyperactive—online reviews (he recently broadcast that one varietal “reminds me of Skittles” and that another “tastes like asparagus pee-pee”) has led him to become a wine guru for some 350,000 followers on Twitter and more than 90,000 “Vayniacs” who tune in to his Web cast each day.
In our video tour, the Redwood chef gets inspired by heirloom tomatoes and stone fruit, then gives his recipe for bean salad with tomato vinaigrette.
Redwood chef Blake Schumpert loves local ingredients. Lucky for him, the Bethesda Central Farm Market is just outside the restaurant’s door. We tagged along as Schumpert and sous chef Ben Wishnoff picked up a few items for a recent evening’s menu: baby lima beans for a bean salad, Stonyman Gourmet Farmer cheese for the cheese plate, and stone fruit for a fruit soup. Take a tour of the market in the video below, then try Schumpert’s bean-salad recipe for yourself.
Blue Ridge chef Barton Seaver once took a job aboard a Moroccan fishing boat to search out fresh ingredients. This week, he stays close to home and takes us on a tour of the new Glover Park-Burleith Farmers Market (Hardy Middle School parking lot, Wisconsin Ave. and 34th St., NW). The Saturday market is just blocks away from the Southern-accented restaurant where Seaver mans the kitchen. In the videos below, the seafood pro gives tips on pairing purslane and fennel with fish and introduces us to lemon cucumbers. He also shares his recipe for grilled okra with charred-onion dipping sauce, which you can follow below. And one more thing, Barton: We want your “I Heart the 202” T-shirt!
One woman's quest to eat through Washingtonian's 100 Very Best Restaurant List.
Ashley Messick dines her way through the Washingtonian's 100 Best Restaurants—and blogs it all along the way.
Ashley Messick has a thing for lists—even her book club focuses on reading the 100 best novels of all time. So when the 27-year-old Capitol Hill staffer saw The Washingtonian’s 100 Very Best Restaurants in February, a familiar bell went off, and suddenly she was eating—and blogging—her way through the places on the list. From Komi to Marvinis a blog where she shares her experiences through charmingly snarky write-ups and the occasional Food Porn Pic of the Day. (Shrimp toast at Four Sisters, your honor has been compromised.) Over dinner at Eatonville (a new restaurant that’s not on the list) we got to know the woman who’s showing us the love.
Get out that recycled tote bag—this summer we’re taking our video camera to farmers markets all around Washington. We’ll have local chefs show you around their neighborhood markets, then we’ll give you their shopping and cooking tips about whatever’s in season. For our first installment, we asked PS 7’s chef/owner Peter Smith to take us on a tour of the Penn Quarter FreshFarm market, where he shops every week. Armed with ingredients from local vendors, Smith prepared a grilled cheese with bacon, arugula, and in-season strawberries for a market demo. See how he did it in the video, then try it yourself with the recipe below.
The Fojol Bros. of Merlindia, a three-parts-Washington/one-part-Seattle collaboration, are DC’s newest food cart: a “traveling culinary carnival.” Serving what they call Merlindian food—popular Indian dishes such as chicken masala served with big smiles and a few winks—the Fojols have quickly become an after-work favorite in Dupont and the late-night snack of choice for bar-hopping crowds at the intersection of 14th and U streets, Northwest.
We followed them around last Friday, chatted with them, and asked passerbys what they thought of the food. Get the full scoop (and a hilarious video of the brothers) here.
Gone are the robust bureaus for the Los Angeles Times, Newhouse News, and other once-healthy news organizations. Digital media bureaus now are taking their places with as many reporters and plenty of swagger.
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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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