Sections
  • Home & Style
  • Editors’ Picks
  • Events Calendar
  • Food
  • Health
  • News & Politics
  • Longreads
  • Our Events
  • Parenting
  • Real Estate
  • Shopping
  • Things to Do
  • Travel
  • Weddings
Reader Favorites
  • 100 Best Restaurants
  • Takeout Guide
  • Quiz
  • Neighborhoods
  • Newsletters
  • Directories
Washington’s Best
  • Apartment Rentals
  • DC Travel Guide
  • Dentists
  • Doctors
  • Financial Advisers
  • Health Experts
  • Home Improvement Experts
  • Industry Leaders
  • Lawyers
  • Mortgage Professionals
  • Pet Care
  • Private Schools
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Restaurants
  • Retirement Communities
  • Wedding Vendors
More
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2021 Washingtonian Media Inc.
Privacy Policy
All Rights Reserved
 Rss
Skip to content
Washingtonian.com
  • Search
  • Subscribe
  • Menu
  • News & Politics
  • Things to Do
  • Food
  • Health
  • Shopping
  • Home & Style
  • Real Estate
  • Weddings
  • Travel

  • 100 Best Restaurants
  • Takeout Guide
  • Quiz
  • Neighborhoods
  • Newsletters
  • Directories
  • Trending Now in Food
  • Brunch
  • Outdoor Dining
  • Daoud Harris
  • Covid 2020
  • Food Events
Food

The Big Chill: How Chefs Are Embracing Fall Ingredients

What tomatoes and corn are to summer cooking, squash and pumpkin are to the autumn palate. Now that cooler days are here, we checked in with local chefs to see what ingredients they’re most excited about using this season.

Written by Ashley Jacobs
| Published on October 22, 2008
Tweet Share
Vidalia's venison tartar is accented with cranberries.

• R.J. Cooper, Vidalia

Favorite fall ingredients:
Chestnut, kuri squash, huckleberry, maple, pear, beet, fennel.

Fans of this modern Southern dining room know that the menu is constantly updated. And that’s a good thing, especially with Cooper’s love of all things fall. The smoky sauce on a red-tail-venison carpaccio is made with cranberries, and a pumpkin soup uses chestnuts grown at Pennsylvania’s Toigo Orchards. Kuri squash—a sweet, dense winter variety—becomes the base for a dessert custard with five-spice marshmallow and walnut brittle.

• Heather Chittum, pastry chef, Hook

Favorite fall ingredients:
Butternut squash, pumpkin, apple.

Chittum, known for her unusual ice creams (she’s done flavors with Gorgonzola and Taleggio cheeses), has a slew of savory desserts in mind for this Georgetown seafood restaurant’s fall menu. We like the sound of her butternut-squash ice cream, which will be served with spiced pumpkin seeds and a hot-buttered-rum sauce. To go with it, she’s deciding between either pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust or sweet-potato pie, although she's leaning towards the latter. “I thought it’d be kind of cool to do a sweet gaufrette, which is a fancy French way to say potato chip.” She’s also planning a sweet apple-and-currant bread pudding, which she’ll pair with bourbon ice cream and gooey caramel sauce.

 

• Tony Conte, the Oval Room

Favorite fall ingredients:
Butternut squash, Granny Smith apple, carrot.

Downtown DC’s Oval Room isn’t known for conventionality, and the dessert menu, crafted by newly appointed pastry chef Cara Reilly, follows suit. The seasonally changing vacherin takes an autumnal turn with a layering of house-made Granny Smith apple sorbet and cinnamon meringue studded with red-hot candies. On the savory side, Conte shows his love for rabbit food with a cut of prime beef sided with red, yellow, and white carrots from Pennsylvania and served with multigrain risotto flavored with passion-fruit mustard.

• Shannon Overmiller, the Majestic

Favorite fall ingredients:
Chestnut, beet, butternut squash, maple, apple, celery root.

At this retro comfort food spot in Old Town Alexandria, the Maryland-bred Overmiller puts a number of nostalgic fall foods on her menu, such as a candied-chestnut soup, butternut-squash ravioli, and tart apple strudel. Beets turn up in a more unusual way—she incorporates them into a vinaigrette that accents salmon tartar with bleu cheese.

• Barry Koslow, Mendocino Grille & Wine Bar

Favorite fall ingredients:
Butternut squash, turnip, celery root, pear, almond.

Koslow appreciates the heartiness of autumn cooking, so his menu is filled with such robust offerings as mushroom soup with a ricotta potsticker; butternut-squash ravioli with Robiola cheese and sage; and braised wild boar with roasted turnips and celery root over black-pepper pappardelle. For dessert, Koslow whips up a pear-and-almond tart with brandied-fig ice cream.

• Matt Hill, Charlie Palmer Steak

Favorite fall ingredients:
Porcini mushroom, apple, butternut squash, pear, gingerbread.

At this contemporary Capitol Hill steakhouse, Hill’s fall menu is mostly inspired by game. He pairs squab with porcini mushrooms, and duck confit with apples. The butternut-squash soup is jazzed up with roasted bananas and mascarpone dumplings. For dessert, he flavors ice cream with gingerbread and dollops it onto pear-and-cranberry cobbler.

• Morou Outtara, Farrah Olivia

Favorite fall ingredient:
Butternut squash.

Outtara, chef/owner of this forward-thinking Old Town restaurant, has traded in the summer squash of his goat-cheese gnudi—airy Italian dumplings—for a more autumn-appropriate butternut squash. It’s blended with onion, garlic, and mascarpone and Parmesan cheeses to make a creamy sauce, then topped with arugula, onions, and tomatoes.

More>> Best Bites Blog | Food & Dining | Restaurant Finder

Don’t Miss Another New Restaurant—Get Our Food Newsletter

The latest in Washington’s food and drink scene.

Or, see all of our newsletters. By signing up, you agree to our terms.
More: Best BitesFood Trends
Join the conversation!
Share Tweet
Ashley Jacobs
Ashley Jacobs

Most Popular in Food

1

5 New Restaurant Pop-Ups to Try Around DC This Weekend

2

The Most Charming Outdoor Bar and Restaurant Setups Around DC This Winter

3

Tasting Room Georgetown Opens With Prix-Fixe Menu and All You Can Eat Taco Nights

4

DC-Area Restaurants Extend Outdoor Dining Season This Winter with Igloos, Lodges, and Yurts

5
Pair pizza with beer at Pizzeria Paradiso's winterfest. Photograph by Juliana Molina, courtesy of Paradiso

5 Fun Food Events Around DC This Weekend

Washingtonian Magazine

February 2021: Great Neighborhood Restaurants

February 2021: Great Neighborhood Restaurants

View Issue
Subscribe

Get Us on Social

We'll help you live your best #DCLIFE every day

Get Us on Social

We'll help you live your best #DCLIFE every day

Related

Photos From Washingtonian’s Talk & Taste, Sponsored by Chubb

late-night-snack

Planning Your Wedding Menu? Here’s the Case for the Late-Night Snack

drink-station-ideas

Say Cheers! 3 Boozy Bar Ideas That Will Elevate Your Signature Wedding Cocktail

Caviar is having a moment–but with a fun twist. Photograph by Scott Suchman.

Why Caviar Is Everywhere Right Now

More from Food

5 New Restaurant Pop-Ups to Try Around DC This Weekend

Today at 11: Chat With Food Critic Ann Limpert

Tasting Room Georgetown Opens With Prix-Fixe Menu and All You Can Eat Taco Nights

Pair pizza with beer at Pizzeria Paradiso's winterfest. Photograph by Juliana Molina, courtesy of Paradiso

5 Fun Food Events Around DC This Weekend

A New Dining App Aims to Support BIPOC Chefs in the Pandemic

This Friday: Chat With Food Critic Ann Limpert

8 National Margarita Day Specials Around DC—to Stay or Go

Denizens Brewing Co-Founder Is Joining the Biden Administration

© 2021 Washingtonian Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Washingtonian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy Policy and Opt-Out
 Rss
Get the best news, delivered weekly.
By signing up, you agree to our terms.
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs