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Jordan Wright
Whisk and Quill
January 2010
 Director and Screenwriter Michael Hoffman - photo by Jordan Wright Michael Hoffman’s remarkable twice Oscar-nominated film, “The Last Station” is a sweeping love story-within-a-love story of the life of legendary Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Coming off his recent documentary, “Out of the Blue – A Film about Life and Football” it is a sea change from this historical work, which Hoffman directed and also wrote the screenplay from Jay Parini’s novel.
With her first Oscar under her belt in 2008 for “The Queen”, Dame Helen Mirren, has again been recognized by the Academy for her role as Tolstoy’s tormented wife and muse, Sofya. This could well be her greatest screen performance ever.
Christopher Plummer, nailing his first ever Oscar nod after a career spanning over 100 films, morphs into the brilliant and conflicted Tolstoy as no other actor could.
I recently met with the very articulate and profound Hoffman, a former Rhodes scholar, in Washington, DC to pose some questions about his research and understanding of Tolstoy’s life, and his experience directing two of film’s most accomplished actors. As for all the acclaim, he has been taken aback, “I honestly thought this film was not going to be distributed in America.”
Jordan Wright – Did you have a target audience when you made “The Last Station”?
Michael Hoffman – The reason that I wanted to avoid making a biopic about Tolstoy is that I thought the target audience was just wrong.
When I first read the novel I couldn’t figure it out. But fourteen years later, and after I had been married for awhile, I saw the difficulty of living with love and the impossibility of living without it. I saw a tragicomedy I could make about marriage, with all the hopes and dreams and all the pain and frustration and atrocities in a relationship, and it fascinated me…and I believed strongly that it would appeal to a lot of people.
JW – The details in the film were remarkable. In the picnic scene I noted one of the guests stirring a spoonful of jam into her tea. Such a Russian idiosyncrasy! How important were these details to you?
MH – We had some great Russian advisers, one of whom was a great-great-grandson of Tolstoy. He told us an interesting story about how the servants would place a boot on top of a samovar and pump air into it to breathe life back into the fire and reheat the tea.
JW – Tolstoy, it seems, had a public face and a private face. Not so very different from some of today’s more notable figures. When you discovered he had three separate diaries, including the super-secret one he kept hidden in his boot, did you have a chance to read them? Also how did his public persona compare to his private one?
MH – Tolstoy was the first real media celebrity. When I went to the Tolstoy family estate and archives they handed me an hour’s worth of footage that was shot on the estate during the last two years of Tolstoy’s life. There were sometimes four film crews shooting them at once. It was like paparazzi gone wild. Everything they did was observed. I think it was one of things he tried to run away from in the end.
JW – Before they were married Tolstoy asked his wife to read her diary. It is known that this mutual reading of their diaries brought about jealousies that perhaps set up the difficult dynamics in their future relationship. How did you portray this in your film?
MH – What’s so great about this is there is so much primary source material because every one of these characters kept a diary of events. It’s all well documented so you can read about the same incidents from six different points of view.
JW – Tolstoy preached sexual abstinence yet he didn’t live up to his own philosophies. Did you find other instances of dichotomy in Tolstoy’s life?
MH – When he was preaching sexual abstinence he wasn’t being profligate. The truth is Chertkov [played by Paul Giamatti]was more impressed with abstinence than Tolstoy, who used it as a sort of spiritual distraction, and then Chertkov would take these principles that Tolstoy talked about and create a dogma box to try to keep Tolstoy inside.
Chertkov and Sofya were engaged in a war for Tolstoy’s affection that was an absolute zero sum game. They both defined their worth in terms of whether or not he was paying attention to them. They weren’t interested in property or ideas they were interested in being loved by this man. And that’s what the movie is about. It all reduces down to ‘love’.
It was as if Tolstoy was a beacon or a mirror standing at the center of a circle, and all these people lived off of whatever was reflected back from him. It’s really a fantastic story.
In the beginning of their relationship Tolstoy gave Sofya a catalogue of all his sexual relationships because he thought, “She really needs to know me.” She in turn gave him hers. Their jealousies of each other stemmed from that exchange.
I discovered he had had an affair with a peasant woman who lived on the estate and had his son, who was semi-retarded, and who later became their coachman. Tolstoy started up that affair again and that’s why Sofya saw him as a hypocrite. She saw the gaps between the press and the man.
JW – How do you get the most from your actors?
MH – Casting people that are not only great actors but are great storytellers and have a deep connection to the story. Actors with a strong theatrical background who understand issues of style and tone in acting, which takes a lot of experience moving between genres…also actors that had done Chekov. That was a great point of reference with these sophisticated actors…to be able to refer to Chekov’s plays. They knew exactly how to pitch it, and they recognized it in each other and modulated their performance, so that they were all living in the same world. You can’t do that with every actor. It was a very risky thing to do stylistically.
JW – What was it like working with both Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer?
MH – It’s interesting. These actors are such good storytellers. The ideal of the method is all about emotional truth…about becoming the character. Not necessarily about what goes wrong. It’s not just, “What is my narrative function? What is my responsibility to the story as an actor?” These actors are all hyper-aware of why the scene is in the story…the kind of narrative building block that relates to the whole picture…and, “When do I step forward and when do I step back?” Those are the central issues of directing.
Every argument that I had with Helen was when I wanted to change something in the script. And she would say, “No, no, no. You had it right the first time.”
Because I’ve talked to directors who aren’t crazy about actors and they are basically afraid, because they’ve got this vision in their heads about what it should be. I think it’s largely because the director has been living with the film for a long time and imagining it very specifically, and then you have this actor with a point of view that doesn’t match up with what you have in your head.
It’s actually the same problem that goes on in this movie when you’re talking about love and ideal love and love in the world. They don’t necessarily match up. But sometimes you have to go with it because they are part of the world.
JW – What were the some of the challenges you faced filming in Russia and Germany?
MH – It wasn’t easy. Russia is a chaotic improvisation and Germany is the most organized place in the world. For example, we wanted to make the house unkempt and messy and we sent out memos saying we need dirt on things, because it’s a farm you know. And the Germans, before you could turnover, would sweep up the dirt. So we had to hurry up and shoot before they could get to it.
There were a lot of lessons in this movie because we really had no money. Monica Jacobs, the costume designer, thought we could take advantage of that and got many of the costumes from the Berlin Ensemble where she had worked, and that had been used for years and years, and we found worn clothes that people had lived in.
JW – Will your next project be an historically set film as well?
MH – What it should be is something that doesn’t take me five years to do. I think that’s probably key.
This interview was conducted, condensed and edited by Jordan Wright. For comments or questions contact Jordan@WhiskandQuill.com
Jordan Wright
Whisk and Quill
February 2010
Wine Techno-Speak Cranks up the Message
If your wine talks to you have you had a bit too much to drink? Not if you’ve purchased a bottle with the new wine decoder technology embedded in the bottle itself. Holy vintage, Batman!
Producer Allegrini of Verona, Italy, known for their Valpolicellas using only their estate-grown fruit since 1557, has just launched a combination hand-held scanner and speaker, brand-named “Ecocoder” into its wine bottles. The wine-speak is activated by touching the surface of a wine label, instantly playing a prerecorded audio file stored in its memory card, allowing you to hear first-hand from the producer about the wine’s history, origin, production, flavors and ideal food pairings.
This cutting-edge wine communication system, patented by the Italian label designer and printer Modulgraf, was launched exclusively by Allegrini earlier this year at VinItaly, Italy’s largest annual wine trade show. As of this writing it’s only available in New York.
“The international wine market is thirsty for information about wine and Italian wines can be difficult for many consumers to understand,” notes winery owner Marilisa Allegrini.
Now if only it could make the pasta too!
Francophiles Rejoice!
I took in the opening of the stellar Chester Dale Collection at the National Gallery of Art last week and felt like a star-struck groupie. The Gallery owns these works but has never before mounted them in one glorious show. It was completely and blessedly overwhelming and I quite nearly threw my neck out of whack deciding which masterpiece to zero in on. There were works by Picasso, Monet, Manet, and Morisot, Degas, Cezanne, van Gogh, Matisse and Modigliani, Renoir et al…the finest representative art from Impressionism up to Modernism. A riveting oil, “Blue Morning’ by George Bellows, one of Dale’s final purchases, begged me to linger. This is a triumph of a show on exhibit through July.
 Chef Michel Richard signs his book Happy in the Kitchen at the opening of the National Gallery's Chester Dale Collection exhibit - photo by Jordan Wright Wait for it… Wait for it…. You expected to read about food in this story and here it is. The Gallery, in its infinite epicurean wisdom, has chosen Michel Richard to design the food for their Garden Café Francais. The award-winning world-renowned chef of DC’s Citronelle and Central Michel Richard fame, who studied under the distinguished chef Gaston Lenotre, has created a charming bistro menu that will have you believing you are dining on the Left Bank with Toulouse Lautrec sketching by your side. In-house Executive Chef David Rogers worked with Richard to translate the dishes for the newly expanded café.
See the paintings and dine on charcuterie, cassoulet, gougeres, coq au vin, ratatouille and so much more. French fromages such as Camembert, Comte and Livarot precede dessert in the French way. Fruit tarte, crème brulee, chocolate mousse or crepes Suzettes follow. Quelle joie!
Virginia Wines Wow at Wildfire Dinner
 Wildfire's Executive Chef Steven Lukis checks on WUSA's Angie Goff's dinner - photo by Jordan Wright Food and wine events continue to draw a crowd and it was a rollicking group that attended last month’s wine dinner at Wildfire Restaurant in Tyson’s Corner. James Roth, wine consultant and owner of Red, Hot and Bleu Wine Shop in Falls Church, conducted the dinner whose five courses were paired with Virginia wines. How can you go wrong starting out the evening’s festivities with Kluge’s 2004 sparkling Blanc de Blanc and an hors d’oeuvre of lump crab on an herb-roasted cottage fry with lemon mustard aioli and ending with a 2006 Barboursville Vineyards’ Cabernet Franc Reserve served with a molten chocolate cake?
Renee Catacalos, of the recently folded magazine, Edible Chesapeake, was there to speak of the importance of eating locally-produced foods, while WUSA’s 9News Now Morning Show’s savvy and stunning, Angie Goff, just wanted the scoop on the local artisanal cheeses served with a 2007 Prince Michel Cabernet Franc.
On hand local PR maven, Bunny Polmer, who started her successful career prepping mis en place for the likes of Wolfgang Puck and Craig Claiborne when she worked for retailer Kitchen Bazaar, setting up demos back in the day. Bunny knows finely minced parsley.
Putting It All Together – Saturday Morning Along Del Ray’s Mount Vernon Avenue
Good news for locavores. The popular producer-only Del Ray’s Farmers Market on Mount Vernon Avenue is now open year-round. Here you’ll find organic produce, meats, cheeses, yogurt, homemade pastas and sauces to accompany them, baked goods, jams, honey and herbs locally raised and/or grown. We love this small neighborhood market where you can get to know your local farmers up close and personal.
Augment your food shopping with a stop along the way at Cheesetique where you can select from over 330 local and international cheeses. Pick up some salami, prosciutto, pates and duck rillettes too. Which leads me down the block to Planet Wine, where a nice Cabernet franc from Virginia’s Horton Vineyards or the slightly drier Pigeoulet en Provence, a Grenache blend from Vaucluse, France, suggested by wine consultant Alyssa Blevins, complements the rillettes quite nicely.
Princesses Rule at Old Town’s Lavender Moon Cupcakery
 Devil's Food Peanut Butter Mousse Cupcakes beckon at Lavender Moon Cupcakery - photo by Jordan Wright Back in Old Town Alexandria at 116 South Royal Street, Lavender Moon Cupcakery is a must visit serving up delectable cupcakes using only the finest ingredients….sweet European butter, dark Belgian chocolate, whole vanilla beans and organic eggs from Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA.
Owners Peter and Tammy Durkin are emphatic about using organic ingredients and no food dyes for their luscious cupcakes. To color their red velvet cupcakes, they use blood orange or pomegranate juice. The quality is evident in all their cupcakes baked up with seasonal flavors.
 Sisters Sophia (left) and Rachel Margarella with their to die for cupcakes at Lavender Moon Cupcakery in Old Town - photo by Jordan Wright In summer fruit-filled cupcakes contain fresh local berries, peaches and apples. Last week I sampled a few of their winter specialties: Flourless Chocolate with Sea Salt and Almonds (gluten-free), Vanilla Bean with Lemon Curd filling, Red Velvet, Buttermilk with Mexican Chocolate Pudding, Devil’s Food with Peanut Butter Mousse filling, Triple Belgian Chocolate, Blood Orange Dreamsicle, Mocha and Vanilla Vanilla.
All were exceptional, with a dense buttery crumb and ethereal icing. Yes, you really could taste the difference with the use of premium, all-natural ingredients. Birthday boys and girls tell your moms. They do full-size cakes too.
While there, two tiny princesses, sitting pretty on small café-style chairs, were enjoying their after-school treats. “This is to die for!” exclaimed one. Her companion was polite enough to refrain from speaking with her mouth full of Vanilla Vanilla.
Barton Seaver Takes His Message to France
At Bibiana Enoteca last Thursday, I ran into DC Chef Barton Seaver relaxing at the bar before his flight to France where he’ll speak on sustainable seafood. Barton, formerly of Hook, is a huge advocate for sustainable fishing and in his soon-to-be-open Diamond District Seafood Company restaurant and market he will source fish from a dozen different fishermen. Swordfish need not apply.
The new location will be at 14th and Q Street, back in his old stomping grounds, where he told me his first cooking gig was at the Black Cat, too many years ago to count. “It’s named for the shape of the district itself,” Seaver explains. We are looking forward to seeing him in his upcoming PBS series, “Turning the Tide” scheduled for Spring 2010.
 Misha (center) with Nikki Giovanni and Patowmack Farm Executive Chef Christopher Rogers at a recent taping at the restaurant And while we’re on the subject of a new TV series, “Cooking Up a Better Life with Misha” premieres next Saturday at 11am on ABC. The charming Misha will be featuring celebrities, politicians and local chefs. The show will be produced in a recently designed Virginia studio kitchen in Alexandria, where I visited her last month while she taped one of her first segments with the author of a cookbook that features DC’s embassy chefs and their recipes.
How Sweet It Is At The Ritz
It was cheek-to-muzzle last week as hosts Todd and Ellen Gray of DC’s Equinox Restaurant put on the dog for all those who love their four-legged friends. The 9th Annual Sugar and Champagne Affair benefiting the Washington Humane Society at the Ritz-Carlton showcased area chefs, mixologists, and their fans, who showed their sweetest support at the scrumptious event. There were treats for canine guests and their escorts as pastry chefs like Amanda Cook of City Zen and Sou-Wester whipped up dog biscuits and profiteroles. “This is the first batch of dog treats I’ve ever made,” she admitted. “It has peanut butter and other natural ingredients in it. Let me know how your dog likes it!”
Some chefs were cooking savory delights a la minute, partridge consommé from Brabo Chef Robert Wiedmaier and ravioli over Napa cabbage from Equinox Chef and the evening’s host, Todd Gray, while others had prepared lavish pastries, molecularly-crafted ice cream ‘dots’ and precious marzipan animals gallivanting across grass-lined displays.
Pastry chef extraordinaire David Guas was signing his new cookbook, DamGoodSweet, an homage to his youth in New Orleans and replete with stories of Hubig’s Pies and Café du Monde. He brought dozens of melt-in-your-mouth pecan pralines (the recipe is thankfully in the book). Can you guess who he’ll be rooting for come this Sunday? Who dat!
Don’t fret if you and your pet missed this one. The Fashion for Paws Runway Show will be at the Embassy of Italy on April 10th and the 23rd Annual Bark Ball follows on June 5th where the four-on-the-floor crowd goes black tie. Book your grooming appointments now.
In a little horn-tooting aside, our little Shih-Tzu, Inspector Foo Foo, (he’ll have his report on your desk in the morning) was selected from over half a million dogs with the distinction of having one of the 10 Wackiest Pet Names and featured on the Today Show. Eat your hearts out Spot and Fido!
See the rest of the list including favorite pet names at:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28540800/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/?ns=today-today_pets_and_animals&pg=4#TDY_Pets_09TopNames
For questions or comments on this story contact Jordan@WhiskandQuill.com
Jordan Wright
January 2010
I was nearly raised in a palace in the rugged highlands of Northern India.  A palace in India When my model/artist/writer/socialite mother found herself smack-dab in the throes of a divorce in the swinging ‘60’s, she threw herself Eva Tanguay-style into New York’s social whirl attending the opera, ballet and nightly galas. Invitations by the handful would appear daily on heavy vanilla card stock from every hostess and charity committee in town. It was at one such soiree that she met a very distinguished man who began to ardently court her.
 Narendra Singh Sarila at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, where he gave a presentation based on his book about the partition of India. Enter the Maharajah Narendra Singh from the Princely State of Sarila, who had still retained his palace with its many lands and servants, though along with many other rulers when independence ended the days of The Raj, he had been stripped of a great deal of the usual privileges and status. I was fifteen, wildly impressionable and safely ensconced in an all-girls boarding school. On holidays I would often see the elegant maharajah when his trusty manservant would fill the kitchen with the alluring aromas of exotic curries in our East Side apartment. This was my first introduction to Indian cuisine aside from the occasional tandoori chicken my mother would whip up in her small clay pot when the cooking spirit moved her.
On my tiny bunk bed in a frigid dormitory in New England I dreamed of life in a palace. I conjured up halcyon days of jewels and robes, elephant hunts and lavish parties. What fodder for a young girl’s fecund imagination! As it happened he had a handsome son about my age. Now I had a vested interest.
In letters home I began my indelicate campaign of pleading and cajoling, hoping to sway my mother to marry him. Eventually the maharajah returned to India pressing my mother through the mails to accept his proposal. One day a massive tiger-skin rug, postmarked Sarila, arrived. I felt certain such an extravagant gift would seal the deaI, but my mother was far less moved, and alas, it was not to be after a prince showed up on our doorstep and trumped the dear maharajah. But that’s another story for another day.
It’s a curious thing how memories will come flooding back after so many years, triggered by a mere morsel, but this is what happened to me, in a most unlikely place, as I sampled the Indian cooking sauces produced by a small company named Stonehouse 27 Spice Company on the cement floor of a convention hall in Washington, DC where I occasioned to meet the owner of a fledgling company out of Germantown, Tennessee.
 Sharon Fernandes creator of Stonehouse 27 Indian cooking sauces - photo by Jordan Wright Sharon Fernandes descends from a family accustomed to bridging cultural divides. A trained engineer, she was born in what is now called Mumbai of a British father and Portuguese mother who worked as a caterer. Later she made her home in Dubai and Australia where she received her degree from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
A few years ago she had a slap-to-the-forehead moment. “My right brain and left brain finally hooked up,” she says of her epiphany and decision to start the company. “I created the line for my family. I wanted them to have the best.”
Her six beautiful sauces made using stone-ground spices reflect her combined heritage. In a recent phone call she told me that she grew up eating steak and potatoes. “A part of India is all Christian and we love our pork and beef,” she explained. “With that in mind, I made my line of sauces compatible with meats and seafood.”  Gourmet sauces from Stonehouse 27 Spice Co - photo by Jordan Wright Working daily on-site from start to finish in the cooking process she explains, “Everything is done in a very staged approach – one step at a time. At first I tasted over a dozen types of onions before selecting the perfect one for its flavor and consistency. I now get all my onions from Oregon and we sauté them for two hours, allowing them to achieve just the right texture and deepest flavor, before the garlic is added. It all gets just the right amount of cooking as it would in a home or restaurant.”
Her mild Tamarind and Garlic sauce for shrimp and vegetarian dishes and a more delicate Cilantro and Coconut sauce for fish like tilapia, flounder and cod reflect the care she puts into the sauces. A hotter Cashews and Cream sauce, a medium heat Tomato and Chiles sauce and the more spicy Dates and Tamarind sauce are designed to go with meats like beef, lamb and pork. I like that the dishes take only minutes to prepare but taste as though you have been slaving away all day.
Sharon is very proud of the fact that only agave nectar and California dates are used for sweetening and no salt is added keeping sodium levels very low unlike other prepared curry sauces on the market. “People try to compensate for bad-tasting products by adding salt. So I don’t use any salt and there is only the naturally occurring sodium from the lemons, limes and tamarinds in the sauces.”
Stonehouse 27 Spice Company’s Indian Cooking Sauces are not yet available in our immediate area though plans are underway. In the meantime Sharon has kindly offered Whisk and Quill readers free shipping on three jars or more if purchased online. Use the code WhiskandQuill10 to get a dollar off too.
 Chef Willis Underwood of McNulty's 7 Fruit Chutney - photo by Jordan Wright To complement your curry, do try McNulty’s 7 Fruit Chutney, another recent discovery of mine. Fifty years ago North Carolina native Margot Walser started making this condiment during the holidays in her home kitchen from an 80-year-old family receipt. Chockfull of fresh-picked peaches, plums, golden raisins, honeydew, apples, grapes, pineapples and spiced with ginger it is hand-made in small batches as it has always been. Distinctive, flavorful and toothsome it has no preservatives or additives. Toss out the syrupy and gelatinous jelly-like chutneys. This is the gold standard. Find it in Dean & De Luca and some Whole Foods or online.
So here’s my plan…a Bollywood-inspired party. Just ring up your friends, slip in a DVD and whip up some curry in the comfort of your own home. Pretty soon you’ll be having dreams of India too.
For cooking ideas and to order the all-natural Indian sauces, go to:
www.stonehouse27.com
For the heavenly chutney:
www.mcnultyschutney.com
For questions or comments on this article email Jordan@WhiskandQuill.com or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com
Jordan Wright
January 25, 2010
Whisk and Quill
 Chef Jean-Pierre Moulle of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA - photo by Jordan Wright An early morning trip to the White House with a tour by White House Chefs Sam Kass and Cristeta Comerford were just desserts for some of the country’s top toques who flew into Washington, DC this weekend for a noble cause.  Visiting Chef Charles Phan of San Franciscos The Slanted Door - photo by Jordan Wright Their goal: To raise money for local charities, Martha’s Table and DC Central Kitchen.
The visit proved auspicious. After torrential rains last night, the dark skies parted and all were greeted with a warm, sunny morning to tour the White House private kitchens and vegetable garden. Alice Waters, who had no small hand in influencing the First Lady to plant the organic garden as a teaching tool for local schoolchildren, was part of the group of stellar chefs. Along the way she noted the small size of the wine closet in comparison to an enormous refrigerator holding a vast supply of soda. She tsk-tsked and a suggestion was made that sodas be done away with in the presidential manse. Do I detect a new initiative?
The previous evening they were paired up with local chefs like Jose Andres, a longtime supporter of DC Central Kitchen; Kaz Okochi of Kaz Sushi Bistro; Bryan Moscatello of Zola and Potenza; Michel Richard of Citronelle; Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve; Nora Poullion of Restaurant Nora’s; Nick Stefanelli of Bibiana; Fabio Trabocchi of DC’s Four Seasons; and DC resident, Joan Nathan, who used her not unsubstantial sway to organize the event she is calling “Sunday Suppers”, pairing up chefs to create their signature dishes at private homes throughout town.  Top toques chow down at the celebration brunch at Potenza - photo by Jordan Wright Wine selections were arranged by Italian wine journalist Filippo Bartolotta of Le Baccanti, whose suppliers donated dozens of wines (although I heard that some gracious hosts opened up their personal wine cellars to amp up the festivities). Grass-fed Dorset-cross lamb was provided by John and Sukey Jamison from their farm in Latrobe, PA.  Rustic egg bake at Potenza's Brunch Celebration - photo by Jordan Wright From Berkeley, California, came Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and Co-Chef Jean-Pierre Moulle, who has been cooking beside her for 35 years; from Martha’s Vineyard Chef/Caterer/Culinary Instructor Jan Buhrman of The Kitchen Porch; from The Modern in New York City, Executive Chef Gabriel Kreuther and his Pastry Chef Patrick Clark; and from San Francisco, Charles Phan of The Slanted Door. Chef Elisabeth Bourgeois of Le Mas Tourteron brought her Provencal style from her iconic restaurant in Vaucluse, France. In all there were 23 participating celebrity chefs.
It all culminated in a lavish Italian-style brunch at Potenza where owner/host Dan Mesches and Chef Bryan Moscatello, marshaled their forces to put on a fabulous spread and thank the chefs for their donation of time and talent. It was all very collegial. You just had to be there.
For questions on this story contact Jordan@whiskandquill.com or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com
Jordan Wright
January 2010
 Chef Fargione in the kitchen at Teatro Goldoni - photo by Jordan Wright Chef Enzo Fargione employs a decidedly patrician ethos with his modern Italian cuisine at Teatro Goldoni’s exclusive ‘chef’s table’, conjuring up tantalizing innovations more suitable for Roman Gods than mere mortals.  Cavatelli with roasted garlic cream and smoked lobster served in a silver tin - photo by Jordan Wright This is a chef who twists, tweaks and molds his ingredients, cajoling them into his gastronomic fantasies. Will he caramelize, braise, gelatinize, puree, concentrate, desiccate, smoke, infuse or lacquer with gold leaf? Will he froth, fill, roast, bake or contort his culinary components demanding ever more textures, shapes and essences?
During a 17-course prix-fixe menu with optional wine pairings (perfect for diners disinclined to order half a dozen different complementary selections) Fargione will engineer an encyclopedia of techniques, inventions and tantalizing flavor complexities in presenting his latest gourmand fantasies.
Unlike other chef tables around town, this is a very elegant and intimate spot indeed, and oh so private. The glamorous table features a semi-circular banquette and is stunningly but simply arranged with white Garnier-Thiebaut damask, Limoges china and Fortissimo hand-blown wineglasses. A Napoleonic bee graces the handle of a tortoise-shell patterned steak knife. While under a black-shaded chandelier, twinkling with delicate crystals, the glasses sparkle, the lighting is flattering and, restaurants take note, you can see your food.  Tea light deconstructed apple flight - photo by Jordan Wright Fargione’s signature style is to present his creations like precious gifts…whether a glass tealight holder for a deconstructed apple flight; sweet crispy cones of smoked tuna, with green olives and a tart cream and nestled in a duet case; glass vases encasing veal cheeks bathed in a huckleberry froth; or an imaginative trompe l’oeil panna cotta ‘fried eggs’ served in a petit gratin dish.
 Chocolate coated olive oil mousse dusted with gold leaf - photo by Jordan Wright His enthusiasm palpable, the charismatic Fargione follows each preparation to the table describing the wines, the regions and his inspiration. Wine pairings are personally selected by the chef to balance each dish and carry certain flavors to the foreground. After a chilled glass of prosecco to launch the evening, I experienced no fewer than eight starters, called ‘appetite openers” on the menu, five subsequent entrees and seven or so wines. With small servings for each presentation you won’t be overfull.
The field informs his delicate white corn and Parmesan custard with a ruby-hued red wine caramel sparked with a translucent basil leaf. In another clever presentation, served in a sleek, round silver tin, the sea influences a luscious cavatelli with roasted garlic cream, smoked roasted lobster, porcini, peas and fresh thyme cradled in a single spoon (though cataloguing of the ingredients barely expresses the complexity of this offering).
 Manila clams with candied cherry tomato, spinach foam and pipette of briny clam broth at Teatro Goldonis Chefs Table - photo by Jordan Wright The journey progresses with a miniature Manila clam ragout, strewn with candied cherry tomatoes bursting with a deep sweet intensity, while a plump caper berry acts as counterpoint beneath aeronautical spinach foam. At the table an infusion of briny clam broth squeezed through a miniature pipette, activates the alchemy. The tiny sampling utterly delicious…but you will find your own treasures…there are so many to swoon over.
 Wild Sockeye salmon with acqua pazza arrucola pesto broth - Photo by Jordan Wright An unforgettable foie gras, studded with mostarda di Cremona (preserved fruits from the Lombardy region), harmoniously balanced the goose liver, mustard and candied cherries. The world melted gently away. Imagine it with a Merlot wine caramel, balsamic vinegar gelato and hazelnut tuile. This is a mere sliver of the evening’s culinary jewelry that takes inspiration from many different regions of Italy.
In all, Fargione challenges earth, wind and fire, revealing sparks of brilliance at every turn. At this extraordinarily sophisticated level of cooking, the desire of the chef to tempt the palate, prepare it for the next bite and dazzle with ever greater gastronomics speaks passionately to the connoisseur. And does that not define the language of love!  Vanilla pannacotta dessert sunnyside up with virtual bacon - photo by Jordan Wright Bravisssimo, Chef Fargione!
If you go, and I highly recommend it, make your reservations for the Chef’s Table and inquire as to the optional wine pairings.
Teatro Goldoni
1909 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
202 955-9494
www.TeatroGoldoni.com
For questions or inquiries about this article contact Jordan@WhiskandQuill.com
or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com
Jordan Wright
For Local Kicks and Whisk and Quill
January 2010
 Celery root soup with grated apple and Stilton mousse at AGAINN -photo by Jordan Wright Before the trendy nomenclature could sink its British tentacles across the pond and set down its twiny roots in American soil, owners at the two-month-old AGAINN (pronounced ah-gwen) declared it dead…at least as an artful descriptor for their first foray into the world of concept restaurants.
At AGAINN the food is too serious for Yankee sensibilities to be considered “pub food”. Pubs are imagined as the average Englishman’s other living room, serving up greasy newspaper-wrapped fried cod and chips or Branson pickles and ploughman’s cheese sandwiches with a pull of Guinness. This watering hole’s $500-a-year liquor lockers are too committal for the blue-collar worker and its ultra-modern interiors too retro chic for the typical English family’s neighborhood gathering spot, lest it conjure up Gramps and the kids after Sunday service.
No, no, no, they cried before it could catch on. They would hereafter be referred to as a “European bistro”. A concept much tossed around but surely indicating a more sophisticated approach to dining and drinking.
On a recent visit to AGAINN I had the chance to commend their change of heart. For here was a restaurant with a serious chef guarding a strong philosophy and respect for the land, an extensive, worldwide wine list and a penchant for success.
But don’t come here expecting spring mix salad with a tumble of heirloom tomatoes…at least not in the off-season. Chef Wesley Morton is bucking the naysayers and keeping true to seasonal. This writer was mightily impressed by such gastronomic bravery. Swim against the tide, Morton and you will find you can create your own waves.
I found a dreamy celery root soup topped with grated apple and smooth counterpoint Stilton mousse, freshly opened Blue Point oysters, brine intact with shallot mignonette (the dreaded red sauce thankfully nowhere to be found), corned tongue with puntarelle, a lovely winter green similar to chicory and only in season from November to February. Prawns are served with Marie Rose sauce…a delicious throwback accompaniment recently revived by British Chef Andy Waters at his restaurant Edmunds in Henley.
 Maryland Rockfish with winter vegetables, spinach and preserved lemon in a spicy lobster broth - photo by Jordan Wright Morton, assisted by sous-chef and five-year accomplice, Michael Sindoni, has taken an extraordinary route by channeling top Michelin-starred chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Mark Aikens and award-winning chef, Tom Hix of London’s Oyster and Chophouse fame. Though he counts his Cajun grandmother as his muse, he has embraced and conquered the new British-inflected cuisine and trumpeted the local, organic, sustainably- and humanely-raised cuisine that is the culinary wave of the future.
Morton breaks down whole cows and pigs from neighboring farms to make his soul-stirring charcuterie – blood sausage, potted pork, “brawn” and black pudding, creating homey relishes like pickled mustard seed, piccalilli and onion marmalade to balance the rich meats. This is “nose-to-tail” eating, as described by British chef Fergus Henderson, and it is sublime.
 Charcuterie board with brawn, potted pork, pork terrine, Allan Bentons country ham, piccalilli, pickled mustard seeds and onion marmalade - Photo by Jordan Wright
Within the confines of Morton’s kitchen the beef is corned, the sausage hand-stuffed and the grass-fed Shenandoah lamb from Blue Rooster Farm, a Tuesday special, fabricated in-house. Even such comfort food as a ham and cider pie incorporates house-made ham with heirloom apples and cabbage.
There are nods to pub food with dishes like shepherd’s pie, locally raised Scottish Highland beef rib-eye and Yorkshire pudding, and bangers and mash. But here is a whole new paradigm.
The wine list at AGAINN gave me pause. The wines by the glass were dispiriting and without the usual wine by the glass pairing menu, I couldn’t find anything remotely palatable. With over a hundred wines by the bottle, I sought advice from trusted friend and professional oenophile, Larry Austin. Austin is a Harvard-educated lawyer, banker and conductor of international wine seminars with an unparalleled passion and knowledge of wines, and who, as a serious collector, vowed to provide me with some insight.
He noted stellar wines including the 2003 Antinori ‘Pian Delle Vigne’ Brunello di Montalcino, a slew of top quality premier cru French Chardonnays, a 2005 Nickel and Nickel ‘Harris’ Merlot, a 2006 Miner Family ‘Stage Coach’ from Oakville and a 2006 Sequoia Grove, Rutherford, from what he referred to as the two best parts of Napa Valley. A 2007 Luca Malbec, Mendoza caught his eye along with a 40 Year Tawny Port by Dow’s. To his tally of favorites he added a 2007 Zinfandel, Biale ‘Black Chicken’ from Napa and a 2008 Cloudy Bay from New Zealand, “whose vineyards revolutionized the world’s thinking on Sauvignon Blanc and put New Zealand on the wine map!” he exclaimed. I lost him after that plumbing the depths of a serious collection of Spain’s exemplary riojas. Wine for thought indeed!
 A sumptuous Banofee Pie with bananas, caramelized milk, graham biscuit, cream and ganache - photo by Jordan Wright Two desserts swept me off my feet. Eton Mess, harkening from the English boarding school of the same name, was made with huckleberries, baked meringue and lemon curd, and sticky toffee pudding, a familiar face in the Anglo-crowd, but this version was complete with a surprisingly delicious stout ice cream.
Later in the week I engaged Morton by phone hoping to explore his approach deeper and mine the chef so driven to expose diners to this new cuisine that he traveled throughout the British Isles for inspiration. I expect exciting things to come from this Texas transplant, whether gastro or Euro, it’s an epicurean direction that will break tradition by reclaiming it.
Jordan Wright – What do you hope sets your food apart from other chefs?
Chef Wesley Morton – I try to keep it simple, precise and refined. I get ideas from the best the new British chefs and adapted them to our local ingredients. I try not to do too much…just the let the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves.
JW – What ingredients are inspiring you lately?
WM – It’s all about the season for me. That’s what drives me. Farmers tell me beet greens are in. But pork and pigs are my favorite vegetable.
JW – You speak of your father’s mother as your muse. How did she influence your cooking?
WM – Every Sunday she cooked for the whole family, she’s a Cajun cook through and through, and there would be up to 25 of us at her house for lunch. We always had cattle, chicken and eggs and fresh vegetables from her garden. I always helped out as a kid.
JW – How did your commitment to organic, non-GMO foods and sustainably- and humanely-raised meats arise?
WM – My uncle back home is an environmental consultant and he has taught me how important it is to support the family farm. It means a great deal to me. I have friends in these communities and have seen how important it is to keep these famers in business, even if the costs are higher, because it affects the local economy and at the end of the day you can taste it in the dish.
JW – What are your plans for the future of AGAINN?
WM – Well, we’re still young. We’ve only been open for two months and we’re just beginning to hit our stride. We will push the envelope slowly, always following the seasons. I’m looking forward to having morels, ramps, asparagus and halibut in the spring.
JW – What local farms are you currently sourcing from?
WM – We are really fortunate to have the farmers we have. Garden Path Farms brings us their pigs, purebred all-natural Red Devon beef, chickens and eggs. We use Blue Rooster Farms for lamb and Fresh Link Co-op, a collection of small family farms, for produce. Our fruits come from Fresh Link and Tuscarora.
This interview is conducted, condensed and edited by Jordan Wright of Whisk and Quill. For questions or queries contact Jordan@WhiskandQuill.net or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com
www.againndc.com
Jordan Wright
December 2009
 Starting the evening's champagnes with Voirin-Jumel Blanc de Blanc NV Grand Cru Cramant - photo by Jordan Wright This New Year’s celebratory festivities may pose a challenge to the connoisseur…to find a good quality champagne on stifled cash flow. While bumps and grinds to the wallet may crush our choices like grapes in a wine press, we seek to secure an auspicious future by raising a glass of pirouetting bubbles to presage better days. But how to achieve this glamorous tradition without sacrificing the children’s college fund?
 Pan seared Maine scallop with onion puree, ruby red grapefruit and ginger butter - photo by Jordan Wright At a recent dinner at Brabo I was introduced to some wonderful and affordable sparklers from the province of Champagne. Each one of these limited offerings was 100% grower produced and bear the recoltant manipulant code, “RM” on the label, ensuring the grapes come from this vineyard alone. Since only sparkling wines from this region of France, amounting to 86,500 acres of prime terroir, may be properly designated as “champagne”, one might expect they would be gustatorily competitive. I found three to be smart, polished and sophisticated, and two, to precisely mirror my most favorable profile of an excellent champagne.
In his distinguished paean to French regional cuisine, “The Food of France”, gourmand extraordinaire, Waverly Root, claims that, notwithstanding ham en croute, “There is no cuisine of note in the Champagne region.” Therefore it is no minor feat for a chef to pair an entire five-course menu with a selection of champagnes. Who better than a chef with roots in Belgium could prepare a meal representing this historic province geographically located in the north of France beside the Belgian border?
 Flemish Oyster Stew with puff pastry fleurons at Brabo - photo by Jordan Wright Enter Chef Robert Wiedmaier, up to this culinary challenge, creating a glorious menu, beginning with Flemish oyster stew with Swiss chard topped with puff pastry fleurons, sheer bliss captured in a cream-colored bowl nestled in a linen rose fold, and pairing it with Voirin-Jumel Blanc de Blanc NV Gran Cru, Cramant. Known as a Champagne family, not merely a brand, sibling scions Alice and Patrick Voirin Jumel, and Patrick’s wife, Valerie, have been supplying this wonderful wine to the Inn at Little Washington as their house brand. I give it three cheers! A clearly auspicious beginning.
Priced around $48.00 a bottle.
 Venus works the Agrapart et Fils vineyard Our second course, a plump pan-seared Maine scallop was accompanied by red onion puree, morsels of ruby red grapefruit and ginger butter echoing the 90% chardonnay and 10% pinot noir grapes used in the 100% organic Agrapart at Fils Brut Rose NV Premier Cru, Avize. So pretty in pink! This vineyard employs a beloved horse named “Venus” to help around the farm. Think of her sweet demeanor as you sip your way into a rosier New Year.
Priced around $61.00 a bottle.
 The Gatinois Brut 2002 a perfect pairing for the turbot with chanterelles - photo by Jordan Wright From the vineyards of Pierre Cheval-Gatinois, which lies at the foot of the Montagne de Reims, one of the four great vineyard regions, came a Gatinois Brut 2002 Grand Cru, Ay. The property lies beside the hallowed Bollinger estates, whose blends from the late 1980’s can reach an astonishing $500.00 per bottle! Eleven generations of the Gatinois family, dating back to 1696, have produced champagne from their ancestral lands. They use a 100% pinot noir cuvee to make this wine. Priced at around $70.00 a bottle it was le plus cher wine of the evening. Yet how perfectly it escorted a Parmesan-crusted turbot with rock shrimp, potato gnocchi and woodsy chanterelles with an aromatic shellfish emulsion.
The following foray trumpeted my personal favorite from R. H. Coutier, a non-vintage brut Grand Cru, Ambonnay. Our esteemed chef had paired this opulent, well-balanced bubbly with roasted veal tenderloin, crispy sweetbreads, lardoons of bacon and natural jus. At a mere $48.00 a bottle, it is like taking candy from a baby. Miss this winning wine at your peril!
 Three cheers for this selection! - photo by Jordan Wright I always serve champagne with dessert at a dinner party. I feel it revitalizes the festive nature of the gathering, and this bold, slightly floral, champagne with its tiny bubbles from Domaine Dehours “Grand Reserve” Brut NV was an admirable selection to stand up to the tartness of a crème fraiche cheesecake with honey-roasted pineapple. Another 100% organic champagne (those highly sensitive to sulfites will thrill to this news), it is made from 50% pinot meunier, 25% pinot noir and 25% chardonnay grapes. Aged in new and old oak barrels, it develops a timeless bouquet that evokes the notable chalky terrain of the region.
Priced around $42.00.
All these fine champagnes, suitable for ushering in a more prosperous 2010, can be purchased at The Butcher’s Block on King Street in Alexandria. www.butchersblockrw.com.
Brabo, the elegant restaurant, and Brabo Tasting Room, with more informal dining, are on the same street.
Jordan Wright
The Georgetowner/Downtowner
December 2009
 Cabbages and carrots with dill and Granny Smith apple - photo by Jordan Wright Consider the humble cabbage. After a soul-stirring dish of sarmale lovingly prepared by my Romanian acquaintance, Madame Pourchot, I thought long and hard on its cross-cultural worth. Sarmale are simple fare, cabbage rolls, stuffed with ground pork, beef or veal and rice then slow-cooked with tomatoes and herbs. A vegetarian version replaces the meat with carrots, mushrooms and Parmesan and loses nothing in tender sublimity. The pilgrimage-worthy menu began with Hungarian mushroom and potato soup cradling a dollop of sour cream, then latkes, crisp potato pancakes with applesauce on the side, then both the meat and vegetarian versions of sarmale and plenty of hearty oat bread and sweet butter. The meal was crowned with a fluffy rum-infused ginger marmalade bread pudding with sultanas.
Madame Pourchot served this simple yet elegant dinner last week to over thirty guests whose eyes grew wide with amazement, with several pleading in earnest to be adopted by her, before the last fork was set down. Oh, yes, I was one of the potential adoptees!
 Spices frequently used in preparing cabbage - Juniper berries, Hungarian paprika, fennel seed, white pepper and bay leaves - photo by Jordan Wright There is a place for cabbage in nearly every culture. Syria calls cabbage rolls mihshi malfuf and uses lamb, seasoned with allspice, mint and pomegranate molasses. Ukranians call it holubtsi and top it with a cheesy béchamel sauce. In the late 14th C the legendary chef Taillevent convinced King Charles V to eat his first cabbage – a matter of historical significance and recordation. One of France’s most traditional dishes showcases the earthy flavors of choucroute, the hearty Alsatian dish made with pork, duck, sausages and sauerkraut. Scented with bay leaves, caraway seeds and juniper berries and served with grainy pommery or tarragon mustard it is a peasant’s dish fit for a king.
Contemporary cooks can claim a working knowledge of Asian cabbages like bok choy and Napa. But sauerkraut can be traced back to Chinese “sour cabbage”, cabbage soaked in rice wine in order to preserve it for the winter. Think Korean kimchi, with its infinite pickled varieties. Health magazine named it as one of its top five, “World’s Healthiest Foods”.
 Hearty crusted breads - photo by Jordan Wright From Lorenza de’ Medici’s cookbook, “The Renaissance of Italian Cooking” I found cabbage rolls from the Lombardy region called involtini di verza, from Marcella Hazan, salsicce col cavolo nero, sausages with black cabbage, though she translates that to red cabbage for the American cook. In the Tuscan region of Italy cavolo nero, the rare black cabbage or kale, is much preferred. It is a prehistoric wild plant. When the central stalk is harvested mini-black cabbages are produced on it resembling a corsage.
“Please to the Table – A Russian Cookbook” by Anya Von Bremzen and John Welchman describe Moldavian verza cu brinza, green cabbage baked with feta, and kislosladkaya krasnaya kapusta, a dish of sweet and sour red cabbage stewed in cherry vinegar with onions, cloves, apples and nutmeg…the perfect accompaniment to roast goose or pork.
To some the bouquet of cabbage cooking is anything but beckoning. Corned beef and cabbage comes to mind. But to others it harkens the origins of gastronomic civilization when meats were flung onto the fire and vegetables added in communal ritual to fill out the stewpot. Now ethno-botanical research has shed light on Bronze Age lake dwellers around Lake Zurich who ate cabbage.
 German-style sauerkraut with wine - photo by Jordan Wright Cabbage was thought to have originated in the Mediterranean regions where Egyptians raised altars to it, and Greeks and Romans believed it cured every disease from paralysis to pleurisy, including hangovers, a suggestion not to be ignored! In fact there are more myths and mysteries surrounding cabbages dating as far back as the third century B.C. Babies are said to have been found under the spreading leaves and we all know the fairy tale depictions of the stork in mailman’s cap, beak clamped down on a cloth sling wrapped around a newborn, and flying over the proverbial cabbage patch. Do Cabbage Patch Kids ring a bell?
Thomas Jefferson raised twenty-two varieties of cabbage in his magnificent gardens at Monticello. But his pride and joy was the Savoy cabbage. I’ll raise a toast to that! A more noble vegetable can hardly be found and I recommend it to the cook, as that is the preferred variety in Europe.
So enjoy your brassica oleracea capitata any way you prefer. One of my recipes, and the meat version of Madame Pourchot’s, follows.
CABBAGE AND GREEN APPLE SLAW
Chef Jordan Wright
1 ½ pounds of Savoy or green cabbage trimmed and shredded by knife into ¼ inch strips
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced or chopped
1 or more tablespoons of caraway seeds
1 cup of golden raisins or dried cranberries
¼ cup of chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
Sea salt and fresh cracked white pepper to taste
Make a vinaigrette of apple cider vinegar, honey and light olive oil or canola and a bit of lemon juice. Pour over slaw and refrigerate for an hour. Toss with parsley and serve cold with pork, duck, sausages or turkey.
MADAME POURCHOT’S SARMALE
1 large jar of pickled cabbage leaves * or one large head of cabbage plus one package of sauerkraut (half to place on the bottom of the pot and half over the top of the rolls)
1 pound each of ground pork, beef and veal from the farmers market
1 large onion, chopped
4 or more garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons each of thyme, oregano and parsley (less if using dried)
1 cup of rice, rinsed
2 tablespoons of Celtic salt
2 tablespoons of fresh cracked black pepper
1 large 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes or, in summer, three cups of fresh chopped tomatoes, peel and all
* Pickled cabbage leaves are sold at the Cosmopolitan Grill on Route 1 south of Old Town Alexandria or the Russian Gourmet in Reston, Rockville, McLean and Alexandria.
Mix these ingredients together for the first stage.
Stuff into pickled cabbage leaves (or you can make your own). Take about a tablespoon of the mixture and place it into the cabbage leaf. Wrap the leaf around the filling, turning in the sides as you roll up, and place tightly together into a deep pot that has been prepared with oil and a layer of shredded cabbage and chopped bacon or ham. Line them up around the pot in layers. When you are done cover with additional shredded cabbage or sauerkraut (the sourer the better) and ½ cup of oil and bacon or ham and peppercorns, oregano and thyme. Cover and boil for two hours over low to medium heat.
Taste one and, if the rice is done, add the tomatoes and simmer over low heat, or in the oven without a lid, until the top caramelizes. Serve with sour cream or plain, thick yogurt.
Sarmale are the traditional dish for all holidays, especially Christmas. According to Madame Pourchot, the smaller the sarma the more skilled you are as a cook! “Poftat buna!” she says, Romanian for bon appetit!
For questions, comments or additional recipes contact Jordan@WhiskandQuill.com or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com.
Jordan Wright
December 7th, 2009
 striking 12 Valerie Vigoda, Gene Lewis, and Brendan Milburn in Striking 12 at Arena Stage December 2 - December 13, 2009 (photo by Joan Marcus) Groove Lily etched a new groove at Arena Stage last night with their performance of Striking 12. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story of ‘The Little Match Girl’ this rock musical, co-written by band members, Valerie Vigoda, on electric violin, keyboardist Brendan Milburn and playwright, Rachel Sheinkin, is an enchanting, heart-wrenching, comedic avenue into the soul.
Set in modern-day New York, with flashbacks to Copenhagen, all roles are played by the three musicians…add blow-out drummer and record producer, Gene Lewin, who channels a Jewish grandma better than Estelle Getty. It’s a knockout show by a rock band with multi-dimensional talents.
I was introduced to Groove Lily seven or eight years ago by a good friend who has now made it a sideline to book acts for Focus Music (an all-volunteer org that presents folk and acoustic music around the DC area). I fell for their tight power-packed sound and well-enunciated lyrics but even more so by the force-of-nature haunting violin strains of Vigoda, who grew up in McLean, VA. If you’ve never heard her play you are missing a piece of your heart.
Around that same time the Army used her image in a recruiting print ad that was featured in every mainstream mag across the nation. There was red-hot Valerie in her camo fatigues and combat boots, wailing on her violin and urging future rock stars to join Uncle Sam. She got some flak for that…not the ammo type.
She was a part timer, ROTC in college, with an 8-year commitment in the reserves as a weekend warrior and then four years with the IRR. She says it gave her the skills and stick-to-tiveness she needed for show biz, though she never once played in an Army band.
I spoke to Vigoda this week as she and husband, Milburn, were en route to New York’s Lincoln Center to receive ASCAP’s Richard Rogers New Horizons Award. (Tiny disclosure here: I am a 40-year member of ASCAP. My sister a 25-year member of New York’s prestigious Outer Critics Circle.)
Jordan Wright – What was the first instrument you played?
 striking 12 Valerie Vigoda in Striking 12 at Arena Stage December 2- December 13, 2009 (Photo by Joan Marcus). Valerie Vigoda – I used to sit on the piano bench with my father [Bob Vigoda, noted jazz musician] and learned to play with him. I wanted to play trumpet but I never could have sung and played had I chosen that.
JW – Do you play any other instruments?
VV – I played mandolin in the Cyndi Lauper band and I’ve just learned the banjo.
JW – I understand you are writing for Disney now. What’s that like?
VV – We have written the theme song for Pixar’s TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure, a prequel to Peter Pan, being released direct to Blu-Ray and DVD. It sold 2 million copies in its first week. It’s our first song for a movie. I can’t believe how big it is! They now have Pixie Hollow attractions at Disneyland and in Disney Paris. All these little girls go crazy to meet TinkerBell and her fairy friends. They love TinkerBell! There will be six of these movies. So now we are writing songs for the second, third and fourth one.
Also we have written the music for Toy Story: The Musical – an adaption for the stage of the movie that came out in 1995 with Randy Newman songs. This new version will be live on stage at the Hyperion Theater at Adventure Park next year where it will be presented four times a day. It’s currently on the Disney cruise ships.
At the theme parks it will have a giant orchestra with puppets made by Michael Curry [who did the phantasmagorical puppets for Cirque de Soleil, The Lion King and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies]. It’s a spectacular multi-million dollar Broadway-type production with a big cast, about 25 people, and we are so excited because we have loved Toy Story since we saw it when Brendan and I first started dating.
JW – Do you record at the Disney studios?
VV – We go there around once a week and work song by song.
JW – Will you perform at Lincoln Center the night you receive your award?
VV – We’ll play “Only a King” from our show Sleeping Beauty Wakes.
JW – Will you be doing any solo work?
VV – Ernest Shackleton Loves Me is my one-woman show. I’m playing the banjo in it. For a long time we’ve been planning to do a show just for me. I love a live audience and get twitchy without it. Whereas Brendan is not as interested in performing. So we’re writing this show together with Joe Di Pietro who wrote the current Broadway hit MEMPHIS and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.
JW – Did I hear that you’re doing Striking 12 at Imagination Stage in Bethesda next week?
VV – Well, we won’t be in it. Actually Striking 12 is currently in production on over a dozen stages worldwide. We were able to license the show – adapt it for others to do with larger casts. It will be in Korea this coming year.
JW – What’s on the immediate horizon for you?
VV – Sleeping Beauty Wakes is another show we’re really excited about. It’s in development at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. We are very hopeful that we are going to take the show to Broadway. We wrote it but won’t perform it. It’s a fairy tale with a twist about Sleeping Beauty oversleeping for a thousand years and waking up in a modern-day sleep clinic. It’s another collaboration with Rachel Sheinkin who won a Tony award for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Bob Vigoda, who had initially been apprehensive about his daughter’s career choice, still lives in McLean, VA, no longer afraid of her following in his footsteps.
Conducted, edited and condensed by Jordan Wright. For comments or queries contact Jordan@WhiskandQuill.com or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com .
Striking 12 will be at Arena Stage in Crystal City until December 13th.
www.ArenaStage.com
www.GrooveLily.com
www.FocusMusic.org
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