cheesie
courtesy of christaki

Last night a tweet from Sam Grieder, caught my eye: Dan Giusti, formerly of 1789, was on Food Network’s Chopped. And since it was completely unexpected and I hadn’t heard any buzz about it earlier (no tweets from the chef himself indicating the episode was coming up or anything of the like), I had to turn on the TV and let out a Flava Flav-esque “Yeahhh booyyy” shout.

Back in August, Giusti left DC to head to Denmark to work at the “best restaurant in the world,” Noma. On last night’s episode, Giusti beat out two other chefs but ultimately lost after the final dessert round in which the ingredients basket featured masa harina, chocolate covered peanuts, frozen cranberries and white balsamic vinegar. Yeah, scratch your heads on what to make with that, too. Giusti opted for ice cream while his competitor, Adrienne Grenier, went with a masa harina shortcake. Grenier is the sous chef of 1500 Degrees in Miami.

Giusti joins a growing cast of DC chefs who have been on Food Network’s Chopped, including Andrew Markert, Allison Sosna and Will Artley (whose episode has yet to be aired).

Marissa Bialecki

Marissa was born and bred in New Jersey, but moved to DC for undergrad at GWU (Go Colonials, go!), fell in love with the District and learned that there was life and civilization beyond New York City. She loves eating at white-tablecloth-three-forks-at-your-place-setting restaurants, but she’ll also be the first to suggest we scarf down some chili dogs at 2 am. Simply put, she loves all things food. You can also read about why she loves DC. Follow her on Twitter and email her at mbialecki (at) welovedc.com.