It’s August: Time to Wine, Not Whine!

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, August 1st, 2011

News flash: it is hot right about now, but I am tired of talking weather. Instead, we should be celebrating these last days of summer. And when it comes to celebrating, wine always helps. So to stop our collective whining, here are a few events about town that will quench your thirst:

Wines & Food of Catalonia at Bastille

On Wednesday, August 3, join Chefs Christophe and Michelle Poteaux of Bastille for a wine dinner commemorating their travels in the Languedoc region of France. The night’s courses celebrate Languedoc’s Catalan heritage and are as follows:

First
Squid, Sardine and Mussels Escabeche Salad

Second
Chorizo rillette and tomato salad

Entree
Grilled Virginia lamb, fried eggplants, and fire-roasted peppers

Dessert
Blackberries, vanilla bean bavaroise, and pistachios dacquoise

The dinner is $69 per person with wine pairings; $45 per person without. Cocktails begin at 6:30 p.m., with dinner served at 7:00 p.m.
For more information or to make reservations, click here.

Bastille
1201 N. Royal St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 519-3776

Cheese Boot Camp and Wine Tastings at Red, White & Bleu

The gourmet wine, boutique cheese and charcuterie shop, Red, White & Bleu offers customers free weekend wine tastings. August 5 through August 7, look forward to sampling wines from South Africa and New Zealand.

Want to learn more about cheese? Sign up for Cheese Boot Camp, which is an ongoing series of demonstrations, lectures, and tastings. On Sunday, August 14, from 1 to 3 p.m., the latest installment is “Milk Maid Comparison,” which will allow you to compare and contrast goat’s, sheep’s, and cow’s milk cheeses. The cost is $25/person. Call for reservations.

Red, White & Bleu
127 S. Washington St.
Falls Church, VA 22046
(703) 533-9463

A Taste of South Africa Wine Dinner at L’Auberge Chez François

And speaking of South African wines . . . You won’t want to miss the South African Wine Dinner at L’Auberge Chez François in Great Falls. Join winery owner and Master Sommelier Fran Kysela on Tuesday, August 23, as she pairs wine with Chef Jacques Haeringer’s tasting menu of:

Canapés
Fresh Carolina Barbecued Shrimp
Spice Filet of Rock Fish with Roasted Peppers
Wild Mushroom Crusted Alaskan Salmon
Grilled Beef Medallions with a Zesty Ratatouille
Blueberry Custard Tart with Cinnamon Ice Cream

Dinner is $125 per person. For more information or to reserve, click here.

L’Auberge Chez François
332 Springvale Road
Great Falls, Virginia 22066

-Johnisha M. Levi

DC Restaurant Week Spill-overs

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, August 16th, 2010

Welcome to DC Restaurant Week!  For those new to the occasion (like me!), this means guests have the opportunity to taste a multi-course menu from participating restaurants for a discount price – usually $20.10 for lunch or $35.10 for dinner.  Let the feasting begin!  As for me, I’ll be highlighting the specials in NoVa.

1. The Grille at Morrison House
2. 703-838-8000
3. 116 S. Alfred Street, Alexandria

Come for dinner with a tasting menu to feature all the house favorites: heirloom tomato gazpacho, salade du Marché, braised Kurobuta pork cheek, braised boneless beef short rib, braised veal breast, mussel frites, and for dessert a warm peach cake or milk chocolate pot de crème.

1. Jackson 20
2. 703-842-2790
3. 480 King Street, Alexandria

Chef Marron has prepared a menu for lunch and dinner with multiple savory and sweet options: barbecued pork ribs, Trout Marguery (grilled and served with shrimp and lemon oyster sauce), and including the whole-shebang of a dessert list – pineapple upside-down cake, a peach turnover with sweetened crème fraiche and blueberry compote – just to name a few.

1. Trummer’s on Main
2. 703-266-1623
3. 7134 Main Street, in historic Clifton

Trummer’s will be making its debut to RW week with a three course dinner menu offering options of Goat Cheese Agnolotti (pickled rhubarb, black pepper shortbread, fried capers), Chilled Mulligatawny Soup (laughing bird shrimp, yuzu sorbet, apple crisp), North Carolina Tilefish, Grilled Lamb Brisket, Berry Cobbler (brown sugar streusel, vanilla sherbet, basil meringue), The Chocolate Cake and more.

1. 2941 Restaurant
2. 703-270-1500
3. 2941 Fairview Park Drive, Falls Church

Participating with its three course lunch menu of Red Beet Salad, Beef Teres Major and Hazelnut Paris-Brest.

1. Bastille Restaurant
2. 703-519-3776
3. 1201 N. Royal Street, Alexandria

With this dinner menu, you can also add a cheese course for an additional $9 or indulge with wines paired especially for each course ($25 pp).  The three course meal provides a variety of choices including a beignet of oysters, Bastille Caesar salad (with romaine and radicchio sprinkled with Parmesan and white anchovy Panacotta), pan-roasted skate filet, roasted Pennsylvania leg of lamb and Merguez sausage, roasted corn risotto and more.  Then for dessert, delight in the raspberry crème brûlée, the Valrhona chocolate cake, orange cardamom flan – just to name a few.  

1. Harry’s Tap Room in Clarendon
2. 703-778-7788
3. 2800 Clarendon Blvd, Arlington

Offering a menu for both lunch and dinner with multiple options like Baked Brie or Lemongrass Chicken Bon bons; Grilled Hangar Steak, Chicken Pesto Panini (lunch) or Horseradish North Pacific Salmon (dinner); Raspberry Sorbet, Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding, and more.

1. Willow Restaurant
2. 703-465-8800
3. 4301 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington
4. Participating for lunch and dinner with a three course menu to sample Cucumber and Avocado Gazpacho, Liberty Town Flat Bread, or Crispy-Fried Soft Shell Crab(dinner); Parmesan crusted Swordfish Medallions (lunch), Bacon-wrapped Monkfish filet (dinner) or Ratatouille and Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms; Passionfruit Meringue Tart or a Flourless Chocolate Torte and much more.

I’m hungry now – actually I’m borderline ravenous and it isn’t even noon yet.  

(Photo: I Know U Can)

For a full listing, or if you care to go the extra mile into DC for your discount bites, check the official DC Restaurant Week Page.

-Jamel Daugherty

Students and Chefs Make Sweet Pairings at Life Is Sweet 5

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Patrick Bazin and his Chef Buddy, Cameron Graham. Image: Amy Loeffler

Student Cameron Graham and Chef Patrick Bazin of Bazin’s on Church are old hats of the Life Is Sweet annual fundraiser for Best Buddies Virginia. They have been a team since the event’s inception five years ago and they embody the mission of the organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver to foster friendships and employment opportunities for intellectually and developmentally disabled individuals. Cameron works the crowd while I pepper Bazin with questions. When I ask to take a photo of the two of them Cameron prompts me to wait and says, “Oh let me take off my glasses,” like a seasoned media pro.  She is clearly in her element flitting from family member to passer-by. “She’s happy,” says Bazin smiling proudly.  “And chefs” says Bazin,”like to make other people happy.” 

According to Bazin the Life Is Sweet event gives students like Cameron a sense of comraderie and boosts self-confidence by allowing them to interact with culinary professionals and the public at large.  This year she and Bazin collaborated, as they do every year, on what to make for the gala one month beforehand. They settled on a pumpkin mousse in a chocolate shell sprinkled with praline topping as a riff on pumpkin cheesecake. In fact collaborating on what they are going to serve is just as much of a ritual as the event itself. “We always discuss what we’re gonna make,” says Bazin. 

Former White House Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier has spearheaded the fundraiser every year for the past five years and proved to be a raucous emcee. At one point he spontaneously put himself on the silent auction block for a lucky bidder to win his culinary expertise (and masseur skills!) for one evening of gastronomically induced revelry. 

 

No need to be sad when the chips are down if life is as sweet as a tray of Chris Ford’s deconstructed chocolate chip cookies. Image: Amy Loeffler

While pastry chefs donate their time, materials and effort for this Who’s Who gathering of area pastry toques,  many chefs at the event on Tuesday voiced that they receive a lot in return for participating. Chris Ford, pastry chef at Trummer’s on Main, recently relocated to the area from New York. He says the event was a good opportunity for him to become familiar with the flour and butter goings on as a relative Northern Virginia newbie. “I meet other pastry chefs and get my name out there,” he says of the event.

Michelle Poteaux of Bastille in Alexandria would agree that the event for her was initially an opportunity to network, but changed once she was paired up with her Chef Buddy, Max Douglas. “Part of [the appeal] of this event for every pastry chef is to promote yourself,” she says. “That soon quickly goes by the wayside once you meet your partner. It’s not just a group, it’s this person Max.”  She explained that she and Max even did an inpromptu T.V. appearance for the event.

Chris Ford of Trummer's on Main and Andrew Roberts.

–Amy Loeffler