Category Archives: Food and Drink

Eat Like Me, Food and Drink, Foodie Roundup
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First Look: Sixth Engine

exterior

Photo Courtesy Justin Cook

Like most people, I was excited to try out Sixth Engine, with a lot of the appeal coming from its setting: a historic firehouse house built in 1855 and the oldest in Washington, DC. Located north of Chinatown in the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood, Sixth Engine serves modern American cuisine and comes to us from the team behind Capitol Hill’s The Dubliner Irish Pub.

I went there last week and even though it was freezing outside, the place was packed. Owner Gavin Coleman and team did a great job with the decor, though I wish the second floor didn’t feel so separate from the first: think doors, steps, and more doors. The industrial feel was appreciated albeit expected, and the furnishings and fixtures added to that historic appeal.

The food different story. Before I get to the negatives, the wine menu was uninspired and pricey, so I went for a regular cocktail instead and everything I tried was pretty good, so maybe the trick is to treat Sixth Engine more like a bar. The menu had many different options — it isn’t often that you see spaetzle on the same menu as a linguine. The prices were average (still on the high side) for the neighborhood, though more than worth it if the food turned out to be stellar. Unfortunately, that was far from the case.
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Alexandria, Food and Drink, The Features
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A Look at the New Menu and New Chef at Evening Star Cafe

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Shrimp & Grits at Evening Star Cafe
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Anytime a long-standing restaurant with an already stellar reputation “revamps,” I have to hold my breath a little and scrunch my face waiting to see what the outcome is. That’s not to say I don’t trust the judgment of the fine folks over at Neighborhood Restaurant Group, because I do. But there are so many variables that go into renovating a space and renovating a menu. The result at the new and improved Evening Star Cafe? Fantastic.

For starters the newly decorated digs are eclectic, funky and inviting. The warm yellow, textured wallpaper make this neighborhood gem feel cozy, while remaining completely cool. And I’ve already mentioned the mason jar light fixture in the back bar at the Majestic Lounge that I’ve fallen in love with. If you’ve been to other NRG restaurants, you’ll feel right at home in the new Evening Star Cafe.

Under the direction of executive chef Jim Jeffords, the Del Ray restaurant has definitely augmented its southern feel with dishes such as boiled peanuts, shrimp and grits and of course, a buttermilk fried chicken. I’d describe Jeffords’ menu as elegant southern with a twist–the portions are southern-sized, but the presentation is beautiful and nothing falls into the stereotype of southern food being oppressively heavy and over-fried. The menu is organized so there are a few snacks (think kind of like bar bites), small plates (appetizers), entrees and then there are sides available to share if you’re really craving more grits or sunchoke mash.

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Food and Drink
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We Love DC Checks Out the International Wine & Food Festival

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Sweet Teensy Booth at IWFF
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Introduction and Wine Coverage by Moses
Food Coverage by Marissa Bialecki

The 13th Annual International Wine and Food Festival Grand Tasting delighted Washington wine explorers on February 11-12, 2012. Keeping with tradition, the spacious and inviting Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center provided a welcoming venue to host the festivities.
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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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La Sandia Tysons Tamal Festival

One of my best friends is from L.A., where winter apparently means tamale festivals, and she was feeling like a mid-winter masa party would be just the ticket one of these unusually California-warm weekends we have been having this year. She sent out this round of emails trying to get people to come over and steam some corn husks up with her – but it turns out all our friends are too intimidated by the somewhat lengthy and labor-intensive preparation and nobody was game.

How lucky it was, then, that just about a week later, La Sandia would send me an email about their own Tamal Festival, happening throughout the month of February. She and I happily accepted the invitation to cruise out to the Tysons Corner outpost of Richard Sandoval’s food empire – which also includes Masa 14, El Centro, Zengo, and about two dozen other spots spreading from Mexico to New York to Dubai – and sample the special festival offerings.
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Dupont Circle, Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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FREE FOOD ALERT: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Photo courtesy of afagen
Coffee: It’s why you got out of bed today
courtesy of afagen

Cupid wake you up on the wrong side of the bed today? Ease into the day with a free cup of Joe or tea and some breakfast treats at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s grand opening in the Dupont Circle Hilton.

Plus if you take a picture on your phone with the “Cupid” they have on site (please tweet those my way because I’d love to see you striking a pose with a goofy cupid for a little chuckle), you’ll get half off all drinks for the rest of February when you show the photo to the barista. Or you might be one of the lucky 12 to win a month of free drinks.

The open house goes from 7 AM until 10 AM today. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is located at 1919 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20009.

Happy Valentine’s day!

Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, The Features
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Capital Chefs: Fabio Trabocchi of Fiola (Part 2)

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Tuscan Tomato Soup & Buffalo Mozzarella Toast at Fiola
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Put down the Kraft singles. Step away from the cheese whiz or whatever else you’re holding in your hand. Grilled cheese and tomato soup is about to be taken to a whole new level. Fiola style. And in this frigid weather as of late, this hearty soup and sandwich will keep you warm and your belly full.

For Fabio Trabocchi, the chef and mastermind behind Fiola, he says “there’s a lot to learn from what a kid likes,” and occasionally uses it as inspiration in the kitchen. In this dish, Trabocchi takes a childhood classic and makes a grownup version that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

Click through for the full recipe and here for more pictures.

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Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, The Features
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Capital Chefs: Fabio Trabocchi of Fiola (Part 1)

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Chef Fabio Trabocchi of Fiola
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Ask Fabio Trabocchi what the biggest challenge for him is and you’ll get an interesting answer. “There are no challenges,” he says, and promptly laughs as if to correct himself. Normally, I’d be surprised by such an answer, but when you think about what the chef of Fiola has achieved–a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic in 2006, Chef of the Year from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington in 2005, Food & Wine’s Best New Chef in 2002, oh and not to mention working at a 3 star Michelin restaurant by 16 years old–you might think this super-chef has indeed transcended any challenges. Trabocchi clarifies: “It depends on how you look at a challenge. That’s what makes it fun. It’s challenging to run out of challenges. Every challenge is very exciting.”

The chef explained that while some other people might look at work in terms of hours, he chooses not to and frankly, says he doesn’t have time to. “I do this because I really like it,” he says. “I’m involved in the food, the financial side–in every part of the restaurant. I like all the aspects of [the restaurant industry].” As he moves around the kitchen and talks to me in our interview, it’s clear that Trabocchi operates with a certain degree of intensity and razor-sharp focus. Every move is done with purpose. He explains how his work as a chef differs from most: “Other professions can go back and fix their work. A cook puts food on the plate and gets that one chance.”

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Food and Drink
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First Drink: Blind Dog Café

Photo courtesy of tbridge
Blind Dog
courtesy of tbridge

Tucked into an end rowhouse in Shaw is Darnell’s, just north of the 9:30 Club on Florida avenue. It doesn’t exactly look like the sort of place that would be a coffeeshop. At least, not until you’re inside. Then it’s the most natural thing in the world.  The long tall bar that greets you as you walk in is dotted with all of the accoutrements of a great coffeeshop: chemex pourovers, house made syrups, an espresso deck, and great coffee. Noah and Jonas have partnered with Black Strap Bakery to create a pop-up coffeehouse at Darnell’s called Blind Dog Café at Darnell’s.

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Food and Drink, The Features
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Where to Eat For Valentine’s Day

Photo courtesy of kimberlyfaye
(049/365)
courtesy of kimberlyfaye

I am not the biggest fan of those forced celebrations that are genius ploys by Hallmark to make bank on pre-written love notes. Anytime the local grocery store and CVS look like cupid just vomited everywhere with so much red and heart shaped sugar it makes my eyes hurt. I promise there’s a romantic in me somewhere. But, whether we love or hate it, people get very into this Hallmark Holiday, so here are a few spots for making or breaking that big date, celebrating the single life, and just general breaking the routine.
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Food and Drink, The Features
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Lamb Ragu for the American Lamb Pro-Am

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Rigatoni with lamb ragu
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Author’s note: This post is for the D.C. American Lamb Pro-Am competition. The task: come up with a lamb recipe for the competition for readers like you to vote on here. If I make it to the top 4 contestants, I get paired with a DC chef, go on to rep We Love DC and cook a lamb dish for 200 people!

Any time I cook for a big group of friends or take a stab at concocting my own recipe, I try to remember this tiny little truth: stick to what you know. Of course, I take that with a grain of salt, but the principle remains the same. Hosting a dinner party for eight, especially if you’re aiming to impress a certain member of the crowd, means that it’s probably not the right time to try your hand at that chocolate souffle recipe you’ve never made or even tasted. I’m all for taking risks in the kitchen. But there are times and places when it’s better to do so.
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Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Celebrate Valentine’s Day Tonight with Romantic Cocktails

Photo courtesy of needlessspaces
RR WTC building
courtesy of needlessspaces

Valentine’s may be the most divisive of holidays. So many people seem to dread all the hearts-and-flowers and even those who want to celebrate with their partner can get overwhelmed by the hoopla and pressure of the actual day. To this, a possible solution: Take your dearest to to Aria Pizzeria tonight for “Cupid’s Not Stupid: Cocktails to Fall For.”

This cocktail event at 7:00 tonight will feature six notable local mixologists, including Gina Chersevani formerly of PS7s, Rachel Sergi of Jack Rose, and Dan Searing, who will be presenting his book, The Punch Bowl: 75 Recipes Spaning Four Centuries of Wanton Revelry. Attendees will get to sample all the entrants in the friendly competition, as well as beer, wine, and some light food.

So, surprise your date with a spontaneous early Valentine and taste some delicious drinks – and consider coming back to the Reagan Building over the weekend to check out the rest of the International Wine & Food Festival.

Adams Morgan, Food and Drink, Special Events, The Features
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We Love Food: Speak Easy at L’Enfant Cafe

Photo courtesy of M.V. Jantzen
Le Soir courtesy of M.V. Jantzen

The French get it. At least when it comes to food and romance. Mix Paris with a little New York and you have yourself a seriously original duo. Enter L’Enfant Cafe, a tiny bistro in Adams Morgan, and you see that America à la France at its greatest. It boasts only 16 tables, but dishes out some serious french fare that transport you to a cafe in the center of Le Marais. On a weekend, it is a great spot to find a croque madame and espresso, and on a weeknight, a perfect date spot for intimate conversation and glasses of rouge. This place is just as one imagines a Parisian bistro to be: effortlessly fabulous.

But that’s just the half of it. L’Enfant is so much more than just a restaurant. Co-owned by Christopher Lynch and Jim Ball, two New Yorkers who wanted to bring the art-y to Party, L’Enfant has turned into an institution of fun fare. Known for their yearly Bastille Day French Maid Relay Race, as well as their infamous Saturday Le Boum brunches, these guys keep it coming. Now, they are making Sunday the new Funday with a one of a kind dining experience. What does that entail? One word: Cabaret.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Friday Happy Hour: Sunburner

My friend and I were heading more or less home for the night, but it was uncommonly mild and a bit early, so we decided to stroll a few blocks out of the way to get a drink before turning in. The last couple of times we had tried to slip into Tabard Inn, it had been crowded with people seeking the cozy confines on cold nights – but on this warmer evening we were able to easily grab spots at the bar.

It being a Thursday, the super sweet Chantal Tseng was behind the bar – in pigtails and argyle knee socks, no less. She made each of us one of her four featured drinks of the night. I received the Sunburner.

Chantal told us she was on “a blood orange kick,” and the Sunburner certainly was part of that. The citrus purée had a thickness that gave the drink a pleasantly rich and silky mouthfeel. The overall composition was not very sweet, but instead vegetal and dry in a really gratifying and unexpected way.

Stopping in for that one drink quickly slipped into a few more (including more blood orange) – every one of them delightful.