Posts Tagged ‘Neighborhood Restaurant Group’
Culinary Passport to the Winter Olympics
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, February 11th, 2010
Hockey. The flying tomato. Vodka. Ice. It’s the 2010 Winter Olympics!
Image: Vancouver Winter Olympics, © VANOC/COVAN
If you can’t make it to Vancouver, you can still get your Passport to the Winter Olympics with Neighborhood Restaurant Group (NRG).
From Friday, February 12 until Sunday, February 28, each NRG restaurant will represent a country competing in the Olympics. All six restaurants will offer food and beverage specials inspired by a different country.
Canada: ChurchKey will serve putine, a Canadian dinner staple, and a rotating selection of Canadian beers.
Germany: Rustico will offer housemade pretzels and spaetzle with wild mushrooms and have several Bavarian drafts on tap.
Italy: Vermillion Chef Tony Chittum will serve four-cheese ravioli with blood orange negroni and wines from the Italian Peidmont region.
Poland: At Tallula and EatBar, Chef Barry Koslow will serve his version of traditional Polish dumplings paired with Polish-brewed Zywiec porter.
Russia: Enjoy Shortrib stroganoff with housemade egg noodles at Columbia Firehouse. Don’t forget the house-infused peppered Stoli vodka!
USA: Cheer on Team USA at Evening Star Café by eating all-American burgers like a Waffle burger and a Five “B” Stinger burger.
Each time you visit a restaurant, you receive a passport stamp. If you receive a stamp from all six countries/restaurants you will win a $50 gift certificate redeemable at any NRG restaurant.
Celebrate the closing of the Olympics with NRG’s 2nd Annual Oyster Roast at the Evening Star Café parking lot on Sunday, February 28. The roast begins at noon and features an outdoor screening of the gold-medal men’s hockey game.
Sadly, Jamaica isn’t represented. Neither is their bobsled team.
–Aisha Salazar
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
(Image: National Honey Board)
“You have to be very careful with this thing called Facebook,” ex-Rustico chef Frank Morales chuckled when I called to discuss the latest internet chatter about a suspected aligning with fellow toque Morou Ouattara.
His abrupt exit from the Neighborhood Restaurant Group last week has led to waves of speculation about what the award-winning, brew-embracing Morales might do next.
And while he considers Ouattara a dear friend–”We do get together and have a chat every now and then,” he said of their long-standing relationship–Morales waved off online blather of hitching his wagon to the poised-for-launch Kora.
“There is no future for me at Kora,” he stated. “Except, maybe for dining there.”
Morales suspects the unfounded Kora connection was likely sparked by a low-key invite Ouattara naively broadcast on Morales’ Facebook wall.
“He wrote something like, ‘Hey, let’s get together and talk tomorrow,’” Morales said of the grossly over-analyzed exchange.
And while he is confident Ouattara will continue doing great things at Kora, Morales remains focused on putting together his own restaurant project.
“I like building something,” the well-seasoned chef suggested.
Morales said he’s shopping around for like-minded investors, stressing that he’s more interested in attracting a simpatico support staff than rushing to pounce on some glamorous address.
Which is not to say that he wouldn’t consider righting an established restaurant “with unfocused views” or perhaps signing onto a fledgling restaurant group “with a bigger role for me.”
But any potential hospitality suitors should know that his former employers have set the bar pretty high.
“I use Neighborhood Restaurant Group as a model … they are truly, truly a wonderful group,” he said, citing the career-redefining knowledge he acquired during his time with the Alexandria outfit as an invaluable benefit.
“Now I do beer cuisine. And I absolutely adore it,” he shared.
–Warren
NoVA Restaurant Scene Explodes this July
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, July 6th, 2009
Really wishing I’d gone the restful route this past weekend. Because it looks like the hospitality industry is gearing up for a big July.
Trummer’s on Main
Victoria and Stefan Trummer have devoted the last year of their lives to transforming the former Hermitage Inn into their new restaurant, Trummer’s on Main. And we’ll finally get a peek at the fruits of their labor when they formally open their doors on Monday, July 13.
The Trummers have entrusted chef Clayton Miller with helping to realize their epicurean dreams, a responsibility he takes quite seriously. Miller describes views his cooking style as modern American, which means he’s only too happy to draw inspiration from all over the globe in order to weave exotic flavors into local ingredients.
He’s also a fan of carving out separate dining experiences within a single venue, which is why Trummer’s will feature gourmet snacks at the bar (available by request in the main dining room), seasonal a la carte offerings as well as a fluid multicourse tasting menu (3-5 courses or chef’s choice) in the main dining room and a 3-course brunch (coming soon) predicated on fresh pastries, homestyle favorites and snappy petit fours.
“I want the guests to have flexibility,” Miller suggests.
Kora
Though he just shuttered Farrah Olivia a few weeks back, telegenic toque Morou Ouattara is ready to jump right back into action with Kora–a family-friendly Italian project taking over the old Bebo spot. Morou and older brother Amadou (last seen behind the burner’s at Middleburg’s Salvia restaurant) will lead a kitchen dedicated to quick, comfortable eats.
“It’s not going to be too far away from casual Italian,” Morou said, listing homemade pizzas and gourmet paninis as Kora cornerstones.
Morou remains committed to resurrecting Farrah Olivia in the near future (within the next year and a half, anyway), but has not yet fixed on a new location. “Whatever comes at the right time, we’ll take it,” he said of his open-ended real estate shopping philosophy.
Columbia Firehouse
The Neighborhood Restaurant Group is hoping to rekindle interest in the old Bookbinders space by launching their own dual-natured venue, Columbia Firehouse, in the next few weeks. Orlando Hitzig (most recently attached to the now-defunct Mark & Orlando’s near Dupont Circle) is still fine tuning the Columbia Firehouse menu, but estimates it will revolve around “comfort food that you can do at home, but don’t want to.”
The first floor will feature said staples, including: smoked chicken wings with buttermilk-blue cheese dressing, Maryland crab cakes and gourmet burgers. The upstairs–tentatively set to open this August–will follow more of an upscale chophouse format.
“That’s where we will be trying to draw in folks from across the river,” Hitzig estimates.
Maestro 2.0 (?)
I’ve just about given up on this industry parlor game. But if you are still interested in what will become of the once fabled Tysons’ dining palace, the cut-off for all placeholder functions is July 31.
–Warren
Sustainable Chefs Look Westward this Summer
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, May 8th, 2009
Looks like ’09 is shaping up to be the summer sustainable dining takes NoVA by storm.
(Photo: LuluMom)
First came the news that the Outstanding in the Field folks were setting up camp at Ayrshire Farm all Labor Day weekend.
Now, we’ve got a pair of award-winning local toques spearheading dueling solstice (June 20) dinners at some of their favorite local farms.
Having successfully piloted/survived last year’s maiden OitF event here in the area, it appears Vermilion chef Anthony Chittum has fully succumbed to the cooking-under-the-stars bug. A Neighborhood Restaurant Group spokesperson said Chittum kept in touch with the OitF crew and immediately signed up when they mapped out a return trip.
Meanwhile, Chittum huddled with the NRG brass all winter in an effort to cook up their own “meet the farmer”-style dining experience.
The result: their debut Virginia Farmland Solstice Supper.
“It’s almost a 5-for-1 deal … getting to mingle with the farmers on their own property,” the NRG spokesperson said, noting that the participating specialty producers–Greenstone Fields, Moutoux Orchard, Potomac Vegetable Farms, Tree and Leaf Farm, and Wheatland Farms–collectively farm the adjoining tracts of land where the dinner will take place.
Guests will be invited to interact with the artisan purveyors, tour their respective properties or just enjoy the Virginia countryside prior to the meal and will be treated to wine pairings by local winemaker Dennis Horton as part of the seasonally-inspired banquet.
“This is definitely going to be an annual event,” the NRG spokesperson predicted, adding, “I think it’s a real natural fit for Vermilion.” The NRG aide noted, however, that the event could eventually evolve into more of a “harvest festival” involving other interested NRG properties.
That same day, Restaurant Eve founder Cathal Armstrong is poised to host the nascent Summer Solstice Farm Dinner at Sperryville’s Mount Vernon Farm.
An event spokesperson said a farm-to-table concept had been bandied about since last winter, but the dinner only really came together once Armstrong came aboard. The spokesperson noted that Armstrong has already been out to Mount Vernon Farm, Sunnyside Farm and Watterpenny Farm to become firmly acquainted with their wares, but warned stringent locavores to cut them some slack.
“Not every single thing will be local … because we don’t have a supply of trout in Rappahannock County,” the spokesperson joked.Best of all: a portion of the proceeds will go right back t the Rappahannock County Farmland Preservation Fund.
Reserve your ticket for Vermilion’s solstice event ($160 per person) here. Claim your seat at Gourmet Rappahannock’s solstice sit-down ($180 per person) here.
–Warren
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Sustainable dining fans can get their fill of grassroots grazing this Labor Day when the Outstanding in the Field folks take over Ayrshire Farm for a trio of guest chef-driven dining extravaganzas.
(Photo: Outstanding in the Field)
The gallivanting gourmets have tapped local toques Anthony Chittum, Bryan Moscatello and Rob Townsend to lead guests on culinary treks across the NoVA landscape. Each chef will be expected to tap into their network of local produce suppliers, protein wranglers and grape growers to orchestrate regionally expressive meals of their own making.
A Neighborhood Restaurant Group spokesperson said chef Chittum is still mulling his menu options, but stressed that the seasoned OitF leader–Chittum hosted a dinner with the group last year down in the Northern Neck–is looking forward to showcasing some of his favorite farms and getting better acquainted with the full range of Ayrshire Farm products (“That is a new relationship for us,” the NRG aide said).
Tickets for each night run $189 per person, with seating expected to be capped at 120 seats per evening.
According to an OitF organizer there are just over a dozen tickets left for Townsend’s dinner (Saturday, September 5 at 3 p.m.), around 30 slots for Chittum’s dinner (Sunday, September 6 at 3 p.m.) and an undertermined number of seats available for Moscatello’s dinner (Monday, September 7 at 3 p.m.).
–Warren Rojas