Turnover at Tallula

Posted by Warren Rojas / Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

(Image: Facebook)

Executive chef Barry Koslow will close out his tenure at Tallula on Tuesday, July 5.

“I’ve decided it’s time to move on,” Koslow shared in an email.

Koslow’s imminent departure signals a very real changing of the guard at the Neighborhood Restaurant Group‘s fine dining/gastropub hybrid, a shift that began last year when EatBar chef Joey Alvarez split to join forces with Peter Pastan.

According to an NRG spokeswoman, the cooking duties at Tallula will be spread amongst in-network talent. ”

While we are in a transitional phase we are being supported by the great depth both at Tallula and the other restaurants, especially by some of our up and coming chefs that have shown a lot of promise,” she stated, adding, “There’s no immediate executive chef taking the spot.”

The spokeswoman also indicated that chef Brian Wilson, who has logged time in several high profile kitchens (2941, Eola, New Heights, Palena), has been behind the EatBar burners for several months now. *Updated: 6/29 @ 3 p.m.* Brian Wilson decamped from EatBar earlier this month.

Although he expressed a desire to decompress for a spell and reconnect with his budding family (he has a 10-month old baby girl), Koslow did leave the door open to returning to the hospitality game.

“I have many options to sort through while I take my first brake [sic] from the kitchen in 12 years,” Koslow suggested. No word, yet, if said “options” include tackling that nouveau deli concept he floated earlier this month.

–Warren

Red Meat: Gordon Vivace

Posted by Warren Rojas / Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Wild animals are fair game on Gordon Vivace’s prep table:

The self-taught chef turned restaurateur opened Cucina Vivace on Crystal City’s fabled “restaurant row” a few years back and has been cultivating a loyal following ever since. He has since spun off a personal cheffing gig/meal delivery operation and has a cookbook in the works.

WR: Salt. Pepper. What other spices/herbs could you not live without?

GV: Basil, cumin, any number of hot peppers

WR: What’s the very first dish you ever mastered? How long did it take? Do you still make it today?

GV: I tend to cook in an old-fashioned Mediterranean style, so “mastered” could have a lot of meanings. My dishes often come out a little different from one attempt to another on purpose, and none are necessarily better than the others. It’s more a matter of what’s on hand to make them special that particular time. But, I suppose the first dish I feel I made that was unanimously accepted where people might not have liked it cooked by others is … chicken liver! I have a few secrets for transforming this ugly little morsel and, oh yes, I still make it whenever I can.

WR: What seasonal ingredient(s) get your creative juices flowing?

GV: Summer tomatoes, winter squashes and local meats like venison and boar.

WR: My latest cookbook obsession is …

GV: I don’t actually read too many cookbooks, though I’m fond of all the Lidia Bastianich books.

WR: What’s the most challenging dish you’ve ever attempted? Would you make it again?

GV: Whole stuffed wild boar. And probably not.

WR: If I could the spend the day working alongside any local chef, I’d love to collaborate with …

GV: José Andrés

WR: What’s the easiest/quickest–but still wholly satisfying–meal you make for yourself?

GV: Roast chicken.

I stuff the cavity with lemons, rosemary, peppercorns and a few ice cubes to help the flavors get into the breast once steam forms.

Roasted in a 400 degree oven, the prep time is about 10 minutes. Then I’m off with a glass of wine until I check on it 45 minutes later. Then it rests for 10-15. Total involvement time is about 15 minutes, 20 if I decide to make gravy (though it doesn’t need it). And it’s wholly satisfying.

WR: In the next six months you won’t want to miss my …

GV: Italian Summer Grill Menu. Our entrees this summer are particularly geared toward the grill and many items will be disappearing in the fall.

WR: It’s quitting time. I’m pouring myself …

GV: Elijah Craig bourbon
————————————————————————————————————————————————

Chef, stuffed boar and venison are right in our wheelhouse. But it sounds like we may have to give your chicken livers a whirl…

Come back next Tuesday for another helping of Red Meat.

–Warren

Just Chillin’

Posted by Eunice / Monday, June 27th, 2011

Ice House Café Harbors No Burning Desire to Change

By Warren Rojas / Photography by Kate Bohler

Oysters Oscar are a house specialty.

He might not be a salt-ravaged fisherman, but veteran Ice House Café employee Dan Root has probably had enough raw oysters pass through his hands to last him a lifetime.

“We have a ton of regulars who come particularly for the oysters. And the hardcore eat a lot of them,” Root says of the cavalcade of diehard oyster fans he’s welcomed with open arms during his 25-year (and counting) run—he signed on at the then-8-year-old establishment in October 1986.

And other than bucking his way up the ladder to bar manager, Root insists not much else has changed at the old Ice House during his tenure there.

Granted, there was a changing of the guard when siblings and current co-owners Alice (general manager) and David (chef) Dai took the place off the hands of founder Daniel Chamblin in 1991. But by all accounts, that was a fairly seamless transition.

Hell, I’d wager every last bit of the original décor survived the management shuffle. The folksy shack—Root maintains it was originally envisioned as more of saloon—remains decorated with nostalgic touches like stuffed wildlife trophies (walrus, moose), faded snapshots of the evolution of downtown Herndon and other random memorabilia (Gold Cup poster from 1987, inlaid plaque plucked from Citizens’ National Bank of Herndon, rustic farming tools). A baby grand piano remains parked at the front of the main dining room. Though they’re perhaps best known for the longstanding weekend jazz shows, Root suggests he’s made inroads in diversifying their entertainment options over the past few years—now welcoming the likes of Dixieland, rhythm and blues, and adult contemporary acts to their humble stage set-up as well.

Live music certainly makes a difference. Based on our experiences, Ice House’s attendance sweet spot appears to begin building Friday just before happy hour and typically subsides well before the witching hour (Root claims the restaurant is in his rearview mirror by 11 p.m. on most nights).

American chili left us cold

His early-bird assessment jibes perfectly with our own observations. Though we also noticed something curious—guests tend to arrive almost exclusively in pairs. Older couples—most behaved as if they were married, but we didn’t make a point of specifically checking for rings—tend to dominate the nightlife here, easily overshadowing many of the other constituencies (large groups, families (extended or otherwise), solo boozers, the under-40 set) typically on display at other area restaurants.

The lunch rush is an entirely different animal, catering primarily to local businessmen, book-toting retirees and the occasional day drinkers.

Regardless of the hour, chances are if you’ve ever eaten here, even once, you’ll recognize something on the menu.

Root paints Dai’s cuisine as an amalgam of David’s lifelong inflences (reared in Hong Kong; trained in classical French cooking; favors Modern American cuisine). Having such a cross-cultural pedigree evidently prompts all kinds of ingenuity in the kitchen, as evidenced by a far-reaching carte that swings from proud-to-be-an-American (topped-to-the-heavens burgers, grilled chicken salad, jambalaya) to wildly worldly (five-spice duck confit with tea-smoked duck breast, Moroccan-style lamb shank, fettuccine with ground bison meatballs in a three-cheese cream sauce) often within the course of just a few hours.

Perennial barkkep Dan Root pours another

According to Root, the teaming masses tend to favor: rotating ostrich steak creations, any Asian-style duck offerings, the signature crab cakes—“People go crazy for’em,” he asserts—blackened shrimp and grits, macaroni and five cheeses, the longstanding Chesapeake Reuben (a lunch menu fixture since 1982) and the eponymous Dan burger (a marriage of blue cheese and ground beef Root used to wolf down so regularly, customers opted to name it after him).

But, and most regulars already know this, Dai is supposedly a sucker for special requests.

“He does not say no to you unless he really can’t do it,” Root says, arguing that Dai often revisits long-since retired dishes—like his Chicken Ballantine, a chicken cutlet enveloping bacon and shrimp mousse—devoted patrons still pine for so long as he has the proper inventory on hand to faithfully recreate them.

Asking for a change-up in the oyster selection, however, appears to be a non-starter.

Root says they’ve been serving oysters plucked from the waters of the Chesapeake Bay almost exclusively since the late 1990s. “They are very sweet and clean tasting oysters,” he says, positing that many regulars live and die by their delivered-fresh-daily-each-morning raw bar offerings, “and the oysters are integral to that loyalty.”

Way to stick to your guns.

The last plate of Blue Points we indulged in there were delightful. The half-dozen, above-average-sized shellfish were paraded out on a chilled metal serving plate, its bottom packed with ice, a well of cocktail sauce at its center and fresh lemon wedges hanging from each side. The oysters were big and briny, but also slick and kinda sweet. Though the cocktail sauce was plenty tangy, I preferred to suck these babies down in their natural liquor with just a squeeze of fresh lemon.

The horns heat up.

“That’s my favorite,” the waiter assures me when I give the surf and turftacular Chesapeake Reuben the nod. The flagship filling features loosely packed jumbo lump crab meat—lightly browned around the edges, but otherwise juicy—effectively bound by Thousand Island dressing, shredded carrot-cabbage slaw and melted Swiss. Combining the savory crab, bolstered by the mixed-in bell pepper and onion, with the tangy dressing and buttered rye bread (caraway seeds aplenty) was a stroke of genius. The folded over slice of sweet and salty ham delivers a whiff of smoke, but is really just along for the crab-driven ride.

Staff love to talk up their veal-, pork- and ground sirloin-packed chili, but I just don’t get it. The multiple meats are so finely ground they’re indistinguishable on the palate. Meanwhile, a supporting cast of diced tomatoes, onions, kidney beans, garlic and cilantro was merely adequate. The island of melted Swiss floating in the center of the bowl threw me for a loop (much too bland for what’s supposed to be a robust chili). But the house-toasted tortilla chips made for easy snacking.

Other disappointments followed. Scallops proved rubbery and far too dependent on their caper-based sauce. Incongruently seasoned honey-chipotle shrimp were all sweet and no fire.

Until we discovered the well composed salmon cordon bleu.

The overstuffed filet arrives split in half, exposing a belly full of smoked Andouille sausage (smoky, salty and terrifically spicy) matted with melted Swiss, all wrapped in a shell of baked-till-crispy shredded potatoes.

For Root, Ice House remains the full package: food, fun and familiarity. “It is very warm and cozy here,” he says, adding, “I have new regulars that start here all the time.”

—–

Ice House Café
760 Elden St., Herndon; 703-437-4500; www.icehousecafe.com

Hours: Open for lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday.
Prices: Average entree $21 to $30 ($$$).

(June 2011)

Wine Kitchen to Cross the River

Posted by Warren Rojas / Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Wine Kitchen co-founder Jason Miller is exporting his award-winning brand to Frederick this fall–and he’s tapped a VOLT vet to help him do so.

Miller didn’t have much by way of design specifics, hinting only that the sister restaurant to his original wine bar/bistro in Leesburg would take up residence in “downtown Frederick” later this year.

But he did share that the kitchen will be helmed by VOLT alumnus Adam Harvey.

“We are very excited to have him [Adam] join us in our new venture,” he said of the well-seasoned new hire.

Miller suggested that the Frederick shop–”It is an up and coming food and wine destination that already has some really great restaurants. We hope to join the scene there and offer something unique to the area,” he said of the northern expansion–would likely adhere to the same small plates and artisan winemakers model, but with totally fresh and different interpretations.

VOLT chef/founder Bryan Voltaggio, who is in the process of doing a little empire building of his own in historic Frederick, sounded genuinely excited about the potential competition.

“I welcome that fact that he’s going to be my neighbor,” Voltaggio said, offering nothing but praise for Harvey, a constant presence in the VOLT kitchen from August 2008 till earlier this spring (Harvey’s younger brother, Evan, is still at VOLT). “I congratulate him on commanding a new kitchen.”

A Frederick native, Voltaggio seems pleased by the hospitality boom he’s helped usher into his hometown. “We’re not popping up restaurants overnight here in Frederick. But we are opening new ones rather than closing’em,” he posited.

But he also held out hope that other restaurateurs might still come, and that greater dining diversity would eventually follow.

“I think I always knew the people here were looking for more choices,” Voltaggio suggested.

Miller couldn’t agree more.

That’s why Leesburg’s Wine Kitchen is prepping a new lunch menu–poised to debut next month–tentatively set to offer gourmet updates ranging from a reimagined Cobb salad, to local sirloin-laden steak and cheeses to tuna burger BLTS.

“The lunch menu will be seasonal and rotate throughout the year,” Miller pledged.

–Warren

You’re a Customer

Posted by Warren Rojas / Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

I read with great interest food blogger/videographer/author Josh Ozerky’s latest anti-restaurant rant in Time magazine.

And by “with great interest” I mean my internal bullshit detector was screaming in my ears.

Mind you, while I found myself nodding along with the few salient points–”casual” dining is by and large a misnomer, wonky reservation policies are distasteful–I was mostly stunned by how lowly Ozersky seems to regard both restaurants (his self-appointed beat) and restaurant goers (his de facto flock).

While he sprinkles sweeping generalizations (“Restaurants like cash because it allows them to cheat the IRS”) and bombast (“The most nakedly coercive form of control, of course, is the dreaded tasting menu, for which the chef sends out 11 tiny portions of food, each one carefully designed to not satisfy you, with the experience requiring less input from you than a nurse requires from an obliging spinal-trauma patient.”) throughout, he manages to shoehorn his most vitriolic views into the following paragraph:

Granted, I ‘m obliged to approach my more-frequent-than-I’d-care-to-admit outings with an eye on professional nitpicking. But something–okay, a lot of things–about Ozersky’s  gripes struck me as, at best, downright petty, and at worst, delusional and wrong.

So I decided to check with a few local dining authorities.

Chef and restaurateur Geoff Tracy seemed the most inclined to give Ozersky the benefit of the doubt.

Tracy stood firmly behind every client’s “right” to text/photograph/Tweet each meal to their heart’s content (“Sure. Why not”) and quench their thirst with thrifty alternatives (“I drink lots of cheap wine. It doesn’t suck, it just doesn’t cost that much,” he asserted). He seemed genuinely baffled by those who misguidedly game the reservation system (“I am also confounded by restaurants who say they are booked between 6 and 10…and then when you walk in the place is WIDE open. Seems like bad for business.”). He even pseudo-endorsed Ozersky’s anti-jerk clause (“Nobody likes a jerk or inconsiderate, mean people”), but left the door open for bitingly honest evaluations and oddball queries.

“Helpful and thoughtful (not mean) constructive comments actually help us get better and are appreciated,” Tracy offered, adding, “I am OK with dopey questions.”

He drew the line, however, at preemptively declining bread service (“Isn’t ‘waving him off before he even speaks’ contradicting the ‘inconsiderate’ component of Josh’s Bill of Rights?”). And Tracy found nothing redeeming about Ozersky’s call to ostracize tongue-tied restaurant workers.

” There are a lot of hardworking people in this business who are trying to learn English. People are realizing the American dream in the restaurant business every day (and in construction sites, landscaping, cleaning businesses, etc),” Tracy counseled. “Unless you are Native American, we should all keep in mind that at some point a past relative was an immigrant to this great country.”

Great American Restaurants CEO Randy Norton attempted to diffuse the whole guest vs. customer stand-off, arguing, “Airlines and grocery stores have customers. People that visit our restaurants are guests.”

“We want to treat everyone as well or better than we would guests in our homes,” Norton said. “In fact, our first core value is ‘we exist to provide happiness to our guests and staff.’ We don’t publicize this; it’s just who we are.”

Norton also rushed to the defense of his company’s long-standing, no-reservations policy.

“We don’t take reservations because it is so difficult to keep guests happy that arrive late,” he explained, suggesting that its equally difficult to gauge “how long guests will stay at a table.” GAR has, instead, utilized a call-ahead system that, while helpful–”We find most guests show up when they call so close to their arrival,” he noted–is still not flawless. “It still isn’t unusual for more than 10 percent of ‘call ahead’ guests to not show up at all,” he calculated.

Restaurateur and Back of the House columnist Meshelle Armstrong laughed off most of Ozersky’s observations, but minced no words about the proposed dining “rights.”

“He [Ozersky] needs to know, patrons do NOT have certain unalienable rights. It is not the government. A restaurant is a privately owned business–with the right to conduct business anyway it chooses,” Armstrong asserted. “IF you do choose to participate in a private business, you have to comply with their rules. SIMPLE.”

Armstrong understandably bemoaned the dissipation of civility (“Life skills and a thing called manners unfortunately HAVE gone by the wayside.”) that one might presume was the original inspiration for Ozersky’s column. But she maintains that common sense remains the best compass. “KNOW where you are going…and act appropriately,” she advised.

Armchair critic cum concierge Don Rockwell was easily the least hospitable towards Ozersky (“This guy needs to get laid”).

“The piece is a potpourri of misplaced ideas, egotism, smugness, and misanthropy with the occasional, seemingly random, grain of coherent thought. Honestly, it would have been a good April Fools’ piece because it’s right on the border of being silly enough to be dismissed as a joke; yet, it’s written for a mass audience which might actually believe some of it, so it’s a dangerous piece of writing on a very small scale,” Rockwell warned.

He went on to dissect Ozersky’s purported rights [plain text], pointing out the following [ALL CAPS]:

You Are Not a Guest

SURE YOU ARE. SECOND DEFINITION OF THE WORD RIGHT HERE.

Guests are people who come to your home.

THAT’S THE FIRST DEFINITION.

Diners at restaurants are customers.

CORRECT, AND THEY’RE ALSO GUESTS.

They pay for food and service.

CORRECT.

They therefore have certain unalienable rights,

A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF A NON SEQUITUR.

including but not limited to:

OH, SO *HE* IS THE ONE WRITING THE CONSTITUTION .

the right to take pictures of the food with their cell phones

THIS IS SO STUPID THAT I PROBABLY SHOULDN’T COMMENT ON IT.

particularly if they can do so without a flash;

OOPS! HE JUST ALIENATED ONE OF HIS UNALIENABLE RIGHTS!

the right to text all the way through the meal,

REFER TO THE RIGHT TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE FOOD WITH THEIR CELL PHONES.

whether the staff or chef likes it or not;

SERIOUSLY. THIS GUY NEEDS TO GET LAID.

the right to drink the cheapest wine on the menu or to just have iced tea;

CORRECT.

the right to take home things that they don’t finish;

I’LL GIVE HIM THIS (BUT THE RESTAURANT HAS NO OBLIGATION TO HAVE CARRYOUT CONTAINERS).

and the right to pay for their dinner with a credit card.

HOPE THIS GUY DOESN’T PLAN ON GOING TO A LOBSTER POUND.

Is there anything worse than being told,

UMMM …

at the end of a big meal,

WHY A “BIG” MEAL?

that the place doesn’t take plastic and that you have to slink to an ATM?

YEAH, CANCER IS WORSE.

Restaurants like cash because it allows them to cheat the IRS,

THIS IS PROBABLY OFTEN TRUE, BUT IT’S WRONG TO ISSUE A BLANKET STATEMENT ACCUSING ALL CASH-ONLY OPERATIONS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR.

but that’s not your problem.

CORRECT. AND IT’S NOT HIS, EITHER (OR SHOULDN’T BE).

If a restaurant wants to pull that move, they need to tell everyone up front when they sit down.

I AGREE WITH THIS.

You’re right to hate them if they don’t.

HOW ABOUT, “YOU HAVE AN UNALIENABLE RIGHT TO HATE THEM IF THEY DON’T.” I’D GIVE HIM THAT.

And if they send a food runner who can’t speak English well to bring you your food

I ALSO THINK ENGLISH SHOULD BE THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES OF ‘MERIKA.

and you can’t figure out what the hell he’s saying,

THEN YOU SHOULD EDUCATE YOURSELF, YOU MONOGLOT IGNORAMUS.

you have a right to have your waiter come by and do it himself or herself,

INCORRECT.

which should have happened to begin with.

WHY?

You do not, however, have the right to be a jerk,

NO, ONLY THIS GUY HAS THE RIGHT TO BE A JERK.

to be inconsiderate or to harass them with dopey questions and requests.

JUST LIKE HE’S HARASSING ME WITH THIS DOPEY COLUMN.

Just to be clear here.

SERIOUSLY. THIS GUY NEEDS TO GET LAID.

Restaurateur Michael Landrum–never one to hold his tongue or shy away from a potential media shit storm–proved to be the most stoic about Ozersky’s screed.

“I can only hope that this article will be read as the Swiftian parody that it is, with some points having a basis in reality. That being said, if one does not enjoy dining out, at all or at a specific restaurant, one should simply not do so,” Landrum said. “Every diner has the unalienable right of choice, and he should exercise it freely and without rancor.”

Meanwhile, Tracy recalled a particularly jarring occasion where he found himself on the totally wrong side of the table.

“I once was dining with Coach Bruce Boudreau at a tony restaurant in Potomac. He is a Canadian hockey player and meat-and-potato guy. He was obviously uncomfortable with the menu. The restaurant had a really nice steak on the menu which he politely asked for, but without the sauces and all the fancy stuff. The restaurant wouldn’t do it,” he noted. “Maybe we are just customers after all.”

Is Ozersky right? (222-and-counting Facebook fans can’t all have guzzled the Kool-Aid, can they?) Or is his column more about vainglorious rabble-rousing than actually elevating the dining bar?

–Warren

Red Meat: John MacPherson

Posted by Warren Rojas / Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Can chefs make it today WITHOUT a reality cooking show? John MacPherson certainly did:

But figures he’d cover all his bases and go the epicurean travelogue/educational cooking route as well. A self-taught chef, MacPherson has been delighting guests at the Foster Harris House with his culinary styles for several years now. He penned his first cookbook in 2009 and is poised to take to the airwaves with a new PBS series next fall.

WR: Salt. Pepper What other culinary elements could you not live without?

JM: Olive oil and butter. Olive oil finds its way into so many dishes…sautéed, baked, broiled, braised, grilled, raw, dressings. Bold and fruity or mild and clean tasting it is a must have for my cooking. And butter, there’s really no replacing its rich flavor and ability to make silky sauces, moist perfect baked goods and that perfect finish to a piece of fish or meat.

WR: What’s the very first dish you ever mastered? How long did it take? Do you still make it today?

JM: The omelet. I’m not talking about the mushroom, pepper, onion and cheese omelet you get at your local greasy spoon. I’m talking about the classic French omelet…a fresh egg, tablespoon of water, buttered omelet pan and low heat. I made hundreds before it was perfect. It’s still surprises me how delicious a simple omelet can be when prepared well.

WR: What seasonal ingredient(s) get your creative juices flowing?

JM: At the moment I’m enamored with beets. Colorful, sweet, earthy beets. Raw and julienned in a salad or slaw is quick and easy and adds so much flavor and texture. And then to roast them transforms them into these magical jewels that I can’t seem to get enough of.

WR: My latest cookbook obsession is …

JM: Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition by Gerald Hirigoyen. Exciting flavors and combinations all wrapped up in little bites. Perfect for entertaining.

WR: What’s the most challenging dish you’ve ever attempted? Would you make it again?

JM: Not that preparing it is particularly challenging, but very early on at the Foster Harris House I made individual Gruyere soufflés for 12 guests as part of a four-course breakfast. As I watched my soufflé’s rising in the oven and still waited for guests to come down to breakfast, I swore I’d never do it again. Now we do it regularly, but I only make soufflés on our guests second day with us, once I know they are punctual!

WR: If I could the spend the day working alongside any local chef, I’d love to collaborate with …

JM: Chef Patrick O’Connell at the Inn at Little Washington. What Chef O’Connell and his team do at the inn is an inspiration and the fact that its two blocks away from us makes us very happy and proud.

WR: What’s the easiest/quickest–but still wholly satisfying–meal you make for yourself?

JM: Roast chicken and veggies. Can’t beat the aroma of a roasting chicken and you have leftovers for the next day:

WR: In the next six months you won’t want to miss my …

JM: Our new PBS series, In Season!

WR: It’s quitting time. I’m pouring myself …

JM: A glass of wine, Pinot preferably!

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Best of luck with your forthcoming TV show, Chef. We just might have to tune in…

Come back next Tuesday for another helping of Red Meat.

–Warren

Dream A Little Dremo

Posted by Warren Rojas / Monday, June 20th, 2011

View Dremo’s 2.0 in a larger map

In the three years since he was forced to vacate the car dealership cum funky tap house known as Dr. Dremo’s, Andrew Stewart has continued to search for another opportunity to slip back into the brewpub business.

His latest communique, sent to the Dremo’s faithful last week, suggests he’s back in the hunt again. Stewart is soliciting investors ($10K minimum; 2-year payback; 10 percent APR) to help him plant the seeds for the next generation Dremo’s.

Stewart, whose brother Bill originally founded Dremo’s–as well as many other houses of beer worship in Arlington, including: Barbecue Iguana (1989; gone), Roratonga Rodeo (1990; now Galaxy Hut), Amdo Rodeo (now Iota), Bardo Rodeo (1993; became Dr. Dremo’s in early 2000)–won’t divulge the exact location of his next venture, but did suggest he’s got designs on a 6,000 square foot plot “somewhere between Jay’s and Galaxy Hut” in Clarendon [see map above].

No word yet on whether Stewart aims to get back into the microbrewing business too, or if he’ll farm out the actual beer making to a third party. Regardless of who winds up providing the suds, Stewart seems intent on showcasing sharing his love of India Pale Ale’s with all.

“I am an IPA junkie, so my goal is not to put too many IPA’s on tap. I just have to define ‘too many,’” he said.

Here’s hoping he’ll also make room for our favorite Bardo/Dremo brews: James Brown Ale (maltacular), Oil Can Porter (hoppy-chocolaty stunner) and White Lightnin’ (high test barleywine).

Eager to put some money where your mouth wants to be? Potential investors can reach Stewart here.

–Warren

Red Meat: Tiffany MacIsaac

Posted by Warren Rojas / Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Anyone who believes it’s hard being the new(ish) girl in town has probably never Tiffany MacIsaac:

(Image: Neighborhood Restaurant Group)

MacIssac and hubby Kyle Bailey swooped into town in late 2009 to help the Neighborhood Restaurant Group launch Birch & Barley. Since then, MacIsaac has been handed the reins to the multiplying Buzz bakeries and placed in charge of the dessert programs across the NRG properties–scooping up a RAMMY nomination along the way.

WR: Butter. Sugar. What other culinary elements could you not live without?

TM: Salt. I prefer maldon for finishing, but there are all kinds of salt that add depth and balance to sweetness. My assistants know that every recipe gets a pinch of salt.

WR: What’s the very first dish you ever mastered? How long did it take? Do you still make it today?

TM: Early on I was really focused on ice cream and sorbet. I have always loved making it and it was the first thing I really dove in to and understood. I use a refractometer to make my sorbets, so there is no exact recipe. I currently have over 40 flavors that we produce for all of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group.

WR: What seasonal ingredient(s) get your creative juices flowing?

TM: I love grapes. I always look forward to concord grape season. I remember the first time I ate one, I was 19 and it completely blew my mind. It tasted the way I had always known grapes were supposed to taste, but I had only had that flavor in Bubalicious [sic] Bubblegum. Every year I remember how special that moment was.

WR: My latest cookbook obsession is …

TM: I read every issue of Art Culinaire. I love it.

WR: What’s the most challenging dish you’ve ever attempted? Would you make it again?

TM: I always try to challenge myself with new ideas/flavors/techniques. There is no particular dish, but I do have a general philosophy that if you can’t make something work, put it down and come back to it later. Sometimes I’ll work on something, abandon it for a year then come back and it just clicks. You can’t force things to work.

WR: If I could the spend the day working alongside any local chef, I’d love to collaborate with …

TM: This might be weird, but I’d say Sara Moulton. I used to watch her religiously on The Food Network. She was part of the reason I went to culinary school. When I was at Allen and Delancey, she dined there and I actually went to the table like a total nerd and gushed over her.

WR: What’s the easiest/quickest–but still wholly satisfying–meal you make for yourself?

TM: I am sandwiched obsessed. I can eat a good sandwich for any meal and I can make almost anything in to a sandwich. When my husband puts a new item on the menu at Birch & Barley, the general manager and I are always scheming a way to put the dish on a sandwich. At home, I am big fan of chicken salad, especially if Kyle roasts a chicken and we have leftovers.

WR: In the next six months you won’t want to miss my …

TM: Well, it’s summer and we have a new line of frozen items at Buzz – Ballston including the frozen fruit pops which are fun. I’m also getting a cotton candy machine. I’m not even sure what I’m going to do with it yet, but it’s cotton candy, so it should be fun!

WR: It’s quitting time. I’m pouring myself …

TM: Johnny Walker Black on the rocks

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Spontaneous sorbets, MacGyver-like sandwich ingenuity and access to a cotton candy machine? Chef, you sound like one fun gal.

Come back next Tuesday for another helping of Red Meat.

–Warren

Final Bow: Solar Crepes

Posted by Warren Rojas / Friday, June 10th, 2011

It’s been a rough week for artisan eats.

American Flatbread – Ashburn Hearth had its last hurrah this past Sunday, closing the book on a four year experiment in hyperlocal dining–”You can’t be ‘sustainable’ when you’re only busy Friday and Saturday,” AF founder Janice Vasko quipped–that its idealistic owners simply couldn’t afford to bankroll any longer.

And now we hear that Solar Crepes will be stuffing its final, fluffy folding treat tomorrow.

“We are closing and Saturday will be our last day,” co-founder Camille Dierksheide alerted us, adding that she and partner Danna Andrews intend to feed patrons of the Ballston Arts Market from 10 a.m. “until the crepes are gone.”

No word on whether Andrews and/or Dierksheide are retiring from food trucking for good. Both women are L’Academie de Cuisine pastry grads and own individual catering/personal chef operations (Yellow Pear Catering and The Beehive, respectively).

Dierksheide, at least, seemed to believe they’ll still be around.

“We intend to keep the website, blog, twitter, and facebook accounts going as a platform to discuss food issues,” she asserted. Rumor has it there may even be monthly happy hours for former customers–and “anyone else who loves food”–already in the works.

–Warren

Red Meat: Jason Lage

Posted by Warren Rojas / Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Having done the whole catering to the resort crowd thing, chef Jason Lage has decided to slow things down a bit:

(Image: Anastasia Chernyavsky)

He’s continuing the farm-to-fork mission he helped nurture at On the Potomac but is doing so in a much more intimate, countrified bistro–menu runs the gamut from familiar soup and sandwich combos to fanciful quiches and gourmet liver and onions send-ups–of his own design.

WR: Salt. Pepper. What other spices/herbs could you not live without?

JL: Basil, rosemary, cinnamon and nutmeg

WR: What’s the very first dish you ever mastered? How long did it take? Do you still make it today?

JL: My grandmother’s chicken soup. Still make it quite often.

WR: What seasonal ingredient(s) get your creative juices flowing?

JL: Corn, tomatoes, morels and asparagus

WR: My latest cookbook obsession is …

JL: Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by René Redzepi

WR: What’s the most challenging dish you’ve ever attempted? Would you make it again?

JL: Charlie Trotter’s Braised Tripe. It is very tedious to clean and is very labor intensive and time consuming. The whole process takes four days. Yes would make it again, not often.

WR: If I could the spend the day working alongside any local chef, I’d love to collaborate with …

JL: Jeffrey Buben. When at the stove he is hands down one of the best chefs on the East Coast. A lot of DC chefs owe their career to Jeff.

WR: What’s the easiest/quickest–but still wholly satisfying–meal you make for yourself?

JL: A simple grilled cheese with gruyere and bacon [or] Papaya King hot dogs (a friend brings them down from NYC often) on New England-style rolls

WR: In the next six months you won’t want to miss my …

JL: Short smoked Georges Bank scallops with creamy corn, Quarter Branch Farm tomatoes and basil from our garden.

WR: It’s quitting time. I’m pouring myself …

JL: A Kalik. Nothing quenches your thirst after cooking on a hot line like an ice cold beer.

————————————————————————————————————————————————

We can’t imagine manipulating tripe for more than a few minutes, much less 96 hours. Kudos on your patience, chef.

Come back next Tuesday for another helping of Red Meat.

–Warren