‘Capital Food Fight 2009’
courtesy of ‘DC Central Kitchen’

I’m a smidge late on the reporting, but that’s how I roll. Fashionably late to the party, you know how it is. Anyways, I had a lovely time at Capital Food Fight! The annual fundraiser for DC Central Kitchen was a blast this year, and despite my throbbing feet, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of DC’s best Chefs all in one place. The event is a combo live-battle (Top Chef style with secret ingredients and all) and Washingtonian Best-Of party style food samples. A bit star-studded, I was thrilled to see Eric Ripert, Ted Allen and Carla Hall.

The live battle was entertaining – the adorable Jose Andres co-hosted with Anthony Bourdain. The two make a really funny pair, Bourdain teasing Andres about how many restaurants he has, or how to pronounce Zaytinya. The challengers were Top Chef contestants Bryan Voltaggio (Volt), Mike Isabella (Zaytinya), and local chef Tracy O’Grady (Willow), out-of-town-chef-but-has-a-restaurant-here-does-that-count?-i-guess-we’ll-roll-with-it Michael Mina and last year’s winner Barton Seaver (Blue Ridge, etc.). After making it through three rounds, Michael Mina came out victorious. Sample his food (let’s give David Varley the Chef de Cuisine some credit here too) at Bourbon Steak. I love that restaurant!

Sixty other restaurants came out and had tables, the standout dishes in my mind were courtesy of Bastille, Oyamel and J&G Steakhouse. Others of note were Kora’s sausage over bean puree and Westend Bistro’s foie and duck over a toffee brittle. PS 7’s Gina Chersevani did cocktails for the pre-event VIP reception and I loved her vodka cider cocktail with a cinnamon sugar rim. The DC Central Kitchen student chefs were so friendly, helping out under-staffed restaurants and describing dishes to guests. Congrats to Mina and thanks to the chefs and DC Central Kitchen for putting on a great show.

Katie

Katie moved to DC in 2007, and has since embarked upon a love affair with the city. She’s an education reform advocate and communications professional during the day; at night and on the weekends, she’s an owner here at We Love DC. Katie has high goals to eat herself through the entire city, with only her running shoes to save her from herself. For up-to-the-minute news and reviews (among other musings), follow her on Twitter!