Jordan Wright
March 2010
 At the award presentation - from left Jose Andres, Spains Ambassador, Varin Keokitvon, Jan and Marica Vilcek - photo by Jordan Wright A humble Jose Andrés, accepted the Vilcek Prize for the Arts at the residence of His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador, Jorge Dezcallar De Mazarredo and his lovely wife, Marica this Tuesday. Eyes fixed firmly at the soaring ceilings of the elegant Foxhall Road residence throughout his introduction, so moved did he seem by this august award, one could sense that the great chef was not only thanking the culinary gods that have shone powerfully on his brilliant career, but also his family and devoted friends as well.
“It’s been almost 19 years since I came to this country,” he recalled. “I’ve been an immigrant all my life and when I came here I was received with open arms.”
This is the first time The Vilcek Foundation has recognized the culinary arts as pertaining to “the Arts” in general and it was a cultural shift for future art awards from other foundations.
Andrés was credited with bringing Spanish culture to the forefront of American cuisine while pushing the boundaries of food both as a sensory experience and vital component of well-being.
Along with Andres, Laos-born Pastry Chef, Varin Keokitvon, was honored with a Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise for his work as a chef/instructor with the Seattle-based FareStart, where he trains homeless and struggling individuals for careers in the culinary arts.
 Friends at the awards reception at the residence of the Spanish Ambassador - photo by Jordan Wright The Vilcek Foundation Prizes, founded by Dr. Jan T. and wife, Marica Vilcek, themselves immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia, were established to honor the contributions of immigrants to the American arts and sciences, and consist of a $50,000 cash prize and an award sculpture. “Our prizewinners are excellent example of how immigrants continue to fuel innovation and enrich our society,” said Dr. Vilcek.
The 2010 Vilcek Prize for the Arts is awarded in the field of Culinary Arts. The prestigious jurors include Chef Dan Barber, former Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet Magazine; Ruth Reichl, Dana Cowin, Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine magazine; Susan Ungaro, James Beard Foundation President; and Maria Guarnaschelli, Vice President and Senior Editor at W. W. Norton & Company.
The evening’s fare was highlighted with tasty tidbits from José Andrés Catering with Ridgewells, his latest venture.
Chef Andrés will be honored at an awards presentation dinner on April 7th, 2010, in New York City, where The Vilcek Foundation is based.
For questions or comments on this story contact [email protected].
Jordan Wright
Is DC Becoming the New New York?
 Greater Washington Fashion Council screening of Schmatta on the Hill with fashion designer, Nanette Lepore and Ohio Cong. Tim Ryan Legislative Assistant, Robert Bacon - photo by Jordan Might as well start practicing your spaghetti twirling and channeling your inner Guido, with NY’s Casa Nonna scheduled to arrive in April to California Pizza Kitchen’s former Connecticut Avenue location and Carmine’s, another NY transplant, planning on a two-story 20,000 square foot location in Penn Quarter in mid-June.
The much-anticipated, over-the-top fabulous, Buddha Bar, with locations in New York, Paris, Tokyo, Beirut, Dubai and Kiev, is due to open this Spring in the Mount Vernon Triangle along with Philadelphia-based Cuba Libre, which promises over 75 different rums and a pre-Castro Cuban décor, slated to open in late May to early June. And now we have our own outpost of New York’s Greek restaurant Kellari (see my review). NY’s BBQ wunderkind, Mark Glosserman, is bringing us Texas style down-home flavors and live music with Hill Country with an opening scheduled for this summer.
Traditionally NYC-based industries like fashion, food and film now have a firm toe hold here. There’s the socially and politically active Greater Washington Fashion Chamber of Commerce, and entrepreneur Philip Dufour’s Politics on Film Festival in early May and the Environmental Film Festival that now calls DC home, earning DC its well-deserved moniker as “Capitol of The Documentary Film”. Is New York fading as a destination for these industries?
Hollywood Cupcake Confidential
Beverly Hills cupcake titan, Sprinkles, is coming to town this spring. Adored by Oprah, Tyra and Barbra this “cupcake boutique” will sweeten the pot by sharing M Street with our beloved Georgetown Cupcake. Oh the lines! Oh the hookups while waiting for those tiny sugary aphrodisiacs!
New York City’s Bond 45 Sails Into National Harbor
 Bond 45 - photo by Jordan Wright Blend NYC’s once-great Luchow’s, the century-old Peter Luger steakhouse, the historic Mama Leone’s, and the recently shuttered Gage and Tollner’s seafood emporium into one perfect authentic Italian steakhouse and seafood restaurant and what do you get? Bond 45, an instant classic, recently opening their second location at National Harbor. Their first venture is in the old Bond Building in New York City…thus the name.
While Executive Chef, Daniele Turchetti, hails from Fruili, Italy, the snappy-confident Italian waiters in a retro look of black ties and crisp white vests, serving guests with a flourish and a quick wit, are direct from NYC. A turn-of-the-century dark-paneled bar unfolds into smaller dining rooms with a mix of Old World Euro and 1940’s style décor. There are mosaic-tiled floors, nailhead-studded tobacco-hued leather banquettes, stamped tin cove ceilings and original oils selected by owner/creator, Shelly Fireman, on his tours of Italy.
I am still swooning for Bond 45’s crescendi of glorious vegetable antipasti and salumi, dry-aged or grass-fed beef, clams oreganata, luscious seafood risotto, house made burrata, pasta with slow-cooked beef ragu, and the traditional white linen napkins with stitched-in buttonholes…very old school. Don’t miss the chocolate mousse that transcends all previous renditions.
This unpretentious restaurant is homey and sophisticated all at once. For NY transplants and their foodie friends, this is the place for your next in-country Roman holiday. Look for their Nat Harbor summer opening of Fiorella, a casual pizzeria by the water.
Kitchen Quotes
 Bibiana Chef Nicholas Stefanelli -in love - photo by Jordan Wright Maryland native Nick Stefanelli, executive chef at Ashok Bajaj’s latest downtown restaurant creation, Bibiana Osteria and Enoteca, tells me his dishes reflect his amorous emotional state. “I am in love,” he declares. That’s amore in every bite!
Velvet Rope-a-Dope at the W Hotel
During a recent visit to the uber-modern W Hotel, to attend a reception I found a lobby with all three elevators roped off and seriously intentioned sleek-suited men with clipboards checking off names. Quite unlike any hotel I had ever experienced, the entire lobby was cordoned off with a series of velvet rope rows, airline terminal-style. It seems as though there were several other events that evening and they were screening incoming guests like high-class bouncers. We all dutifully stood in lines while the tiny elevators came and went. Not my cuppa. When I asked a staff member if it was always like this he barked, “Well, Madame, it is a hotel!” Oooohhhh, slap on the wrist! Guess I should have known better than to question an authority on hotel protocol.
Jordan Wright
 The Jefferson Hotel Rotunda Brunch at The Jefferson Hotel in its magnificent columned Rotunda, where ceilings soar to seventy feet, is an over-the-top event. Guests come from miles around to enjoy the finest gourmet Southern cuisine and this spring I wrote glowingly about my experience.
Recently I returned to The Jefferson eager to revisit this splendid property, replete with Tiffany glass ceilings and sweeping Scarlett O’Hara staircases, and to stay where luminaries like Elvis and F. Scott Fitzgerald; actors Morgan Freeman, Sarah Bernhardt and Charlie Chaplin and no less than the great explorer, Sir Edmund Hillary, had wined, dined and reveled…presumably after his Everest climb. After all, if nine American presidents and Sheryl Crow thought it had a cool vibe, I knew I would too.
After a short drive from Washington, we crossed the cobblestone drive to the elegant portico. Valets whisked off our bags and seamlessly ushered us in. Along the way we were warmly welcomed by every staff member we passed. In fact, throughout our stay we wondered if they hadn’t confused us with the hotel’s owners or long lost cousins returning to the fold, so very genteel was the staff’s daily attention.
As one of one of the last remaining bastions of Southern hospitality, everything about this hotel spells graciousness and grandeur. Built in 1895 by Major Lewis Ginter, a visionary in the extreme, to compete with Europe’s grand hotels, it featured more luxuries than the QE2 and Titanic put together. The Beaux Arts architecture is breathtaking, the life-size marble statue of Thomas Jefferson, awe-inspiring and the alligators intimidating. Well, actually the alligators aren’t there any longer, but not so long ago they roamed the lobby. Memorialized on the dining room staff’s cute blue and green silk ties they have been revered and adopted as the hotel’s iconic mascots.
Richmond has been enjoying a stunning renaissance of late. Big tobacco no longer dominates and the story on everyone’s lips is the success of Virginia Commonwealth University. To accommodate its 32,000 students VCU has bought up and restored many of the old warehouses and historic Victorian homes that had fallen into disrepair and the city now boasts the largest contiguous Victorian neighborhood in the US.
The revitalization appears all over town in areas like Shockoe Slip and Tobacco Row along the waterfront, where old tobacco warehouses have been turned into shops and offices and in Carytown, the Museum District and the Fan District where you’ll find hip nightspots, coffee houses, quirky boutiques and charming restaurants. I loved the too too fabulous Can Can Brasserie, housed in a former bridal salon, which will have you believing you’re dining at Paris’ La Coupole, and Zeus Gallery Café, a tiny bistro, next to Chadwick and Son Orchids, in the fashionable museum district serving brilliant food.
But foremost on my mind for this quick visit was the redesign of both menu and décor of The Jefferson’s famous restaurant Lemaire. Nine months shuttered, its reopening was greatly anticipated.
Executive Chef Walter Bundy had his early culinary training on a family farm along the Chesapeake Bay where he learned to tend a garden, hunt, fish and prepare meals from what was available. Later he was to learn Southern coastal cuisine on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and train at Mark Miller’s Coyote Café in Santa Fe and Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Napa Valley. He has a keen and dedicated sense for local ingredients in his dishes and he keeps a small herb and vegetable garden behind the hotel where he gleans ingredients for his dishes.
In recent years Lemaire had become stodgy and out-of-date, attracting an older crowd known to preserve their traditions under glass. So when the menu was changed to attract a hipper crowd they feared they might lose their loyal though waning clientele. Instead Richmond’s scions and well-heeled doyennes have embraced the smaller portions and innovative cuisine and the place is filled with a mix of old and young establishment Richmonders flocking to the lively bar before dinner.
It was there we sampled hand-crafted cocktails like ‘Two Grapes”, a sublime concoction of Tomio Junmai Ginyo sake, St. Germain elderflower liqueur and red grapes…quite irresistible…and enjoyed along with Jamerson Farms braised rabbit egg rolls and Kite’s Country Ham with a sweet tangy dipping sauce of spicy orange marmalade and rabbit liver mousse on a caramelized brioche.
With great anticipation we left our nibbles and sips and went to table where we entered into a profound understanding with some Rappahanock River oysters, a locally farmed oyster which I adore and sourced earlier this year for my Inaugural menu. We enjoyed the “Sting Rays”  Sting Rays and Old Salt oysters at Lemaire - photo credit Jordan Wright and “Old Salts”, briny and beautiful, and the ginger-crusted Virginia soft shell crab atop a cous cous tower stacked with watermelon and avocado mousse and highlighted with chili oil. A peppy 1999 J Brut sparkler from the Russian River paved the way and we were off. Wine Director, Ben Eubanks, took savvy charge of the pairings for us during our dinner.
Beef tartare, with local lettuces and horseradish cream charmed us with a 2008 Mas le Dame rose Les Baux-de-Provence., while a 2008 Lawson’s Dry Hill Pinot Gris Marlborough complemented the fried green tomatoes, Silver Queen corn, Surry sausage (a Virginia favorite) and Gulf shrimp succotash with sunflower shoots and buttermilk blue cheese cream.
Three things to note: Tender and velvety-leaved sunflower sprouts are becoming a favorite of mine; rose is coming into its own again and I intend to write more about it in another column and finally, I would eat this delicious dinner all over again and right this minute, for this cuisine, canonized by the great hostesses of Virginia, is as beloved as a favorite child.
A petit cadeau from the chef arrives: A Hanover tomato gazpacho shooter with Chesapeake Bay blue crab, watermelon and a drizzle of basil oil spelling s-u-m-m-e-r to the max.
It is no secret that I am a fan of real stone-milled corn grits…not the soupy, breakfasty, diner-style puddle…but the toothsome kind, a close neighbor to polenta. And Lemaire, paean to the cherished cooking of the South, serves their antebellum Carolina grits with seared ocean scallops, sautéed spinach and fire-roasted tomato sauce. As a pleasing counterbalance a 2005 Enotria Barbera from Mendocino shone over all. My partner chose the curry-scented lamb loin that strode alongside of cauliflower mousse, garlic rapini and fresh local huckleberry jus that harmonized with a 2002 Romero and Miller Rentas de Fincas Rioja Reserve. You just knew the riojas were coming, now, didn’t you?
At last we chose a dark chocolate terrine with scattered wild berries and sabayon sauce and a huckleberry semifreddo to crown this exquisite repast.  Chocolate terrine with wild berries and sabayon sauce at Lemaire - photo credit Jordan Wright Dining at Lemaire that evening I detected a warm camaraderie. Shared smiles and nods from other diners created the sense that everyone in the room held the same secret…that we were all there for a very special reason. It was a remarkable and unique experience.
In the morning we scampered out to Independence Golf Club, a Tom Fazio designed course just twenty minutes out of town in Midlothian. Its Jeffersonian-styled clubhouse, known as the Charles House, is home to the Museum of Virginia Golf History and is chock-a-block with trophies and memorabilia from tournaments passed. We opted for the nine-hole course. Since, even with a breeze and shaded paths, the heat was stifling. This club has both an eighteen and a nine-hole course. Notwithstanding, we were the only wilted wimps on the nine.
Later in the day we opted for a tour of the famous Hollywood Cemetery, known as one of the more intriguing historic venues in Richmond. US Presidents James Monroe and James Tyler; Confederate President, Jefferson Davis; six former governors and a heap of noted southerners are interred here in a cemetery of over 200 hilly acres. Recently they instituted guided Segway tours of the grounds and, after a few minutes of required instruction, we were ready to “roll” with Mr. Butterworth as our guide. E. L. is a certified guide trained by the Historic Richmond Foundation, and he was a veritable encyclopedia of Virginia arcana. He regaled us with both on and off-the-record tales of this cemetery perched above the beautiful James River. We took in the cool breeze off the mighty river and saw Belle Isle where picnickers were splashing, swimming and wading from rock to rock.
The following day we toured Agecroft, a remarkable 17th century Tudor house brought by sea and train from Lancashire, England and painstakingly reassembled here. Housing one of the nation’s finest collection of 16th and 17th century furnishings, this estate and its elegant Elizabethan gardens are a must see. In summer they present a Shakespearean festival under the stars.
 Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden - photo credit Jordan Wright On our way home we stopped at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden which has blossomed into a world-class 82 acre garden featuring an enormous conservatory with tropical orchid wing; Bloemendaal House, the antique-filled ancestral home of the Ginter family; a children’s garden; the Lace House Garden with its hand carved gazebo; the Sunken Garden inspired by ancient Rome; the Healing Garden with medicinal plants; and many other separate gardens to explore. A community kitchen garden project, staffed by local volunteers, donates more than 500 pounds of fresh produce each summer to the Central Virginia Foodbank.
Our two-day two-night stay showed us a small snapshot of Richmond and we plan to return soon and often to explore more of the city. Before you plan your trip visit the sites below for more information on these and other attractions.
www.visitrichmondva.com
www.jeffersonhotel.com
www.cancanbrasserie.com
www.lewisginter.org
www.segwayofrichmond.com
www.agecrofthall.com
For comments or questions write [email protected].
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, patés 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.
For questions or comments on this story contact [email protected]
Jordan Wright
December 2, 2009
 Food Network's Chef Guy Fieri at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show - photo credit Jordan Wright I never expected to like Guy Fieri. His edgy, peroxided, spiky-haired style insults my delicate sensibilities. Yet here I was at the recent Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show doubled over, tears pouring down my cheeks and flat out yukking it up with the rest of his die-hard fans. I went because my grandson loves his crazy hip food-as-vaudeville revue and how he jazzes up his Food Network show, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”, by peppering descriptions with, “That’s how I roll!” and “That’s money!” when he tastes something he really really likes, which happens on every episode.
My grandson couldn’t be there but I wanted to let him know how cool I could be and take some photos for him. So avoiding the cheek-to-jowl crush on the floor of the exhibit space, I ducked in to see the Food Network stars.
Fieri is not intimidated by a live audience or the glitches that can misfire a smooth cooking demo. (Poor Giada De Laurentis’s stage set was a disaster, with ingredients and equipment that had gone missing. She nearly broke down with embarrassment and frustration. Who wouldn’t?)
After a bout of flinging cheese into the audience, “It’s always a party when you chuck Havarti!” he quipped, an audience member said she’d like to sing to him. He jumped on the offer and invited anyone else to come up to the mike while he prepared pork al fuego. One woman said, “I want to sing for you but all I can think of is if you want my body and you think I’m sexy”. She sang…well sort of howled…the totally inappropriate Rod Stewart hit, but Fieri just cracked up and the place went wild. You had to be there. I’m a fan of his now. The show. Not so much.
The Gaylord National’s new Christmas tradition is a show called ICE! They held a press reception for the event’s opening that was an extravaganza worthy of P. T. Barnum himself. It featured a sixty-foot candy-like glass Christmas tree, indoor “snowfall”, outdoor fireworks display, Northern Lights show, 60-foot dancing water fountain, 75-voice choir and a life-size PEEP! Not a partridge in sight, but over the Xmas holidays these and other events are being held around the resort and spa…Peppermint Patti manicures, anyone?
 Ice penguins from ICE at the Gaylord National Resort - photo credit Jordan Wright ICE itself is a glistening technological wonder with massive three-dimensional ice sculptures, some over two stories, created by 40 international artisans. The huge tented pavilion is kept at 7 degrees! But don’t worry they provide snow parkas a la Maid of the Mist in Niagra Falls. The kids will love it. I found it gaudy, glorious and astounding. There’s something for everyone.
Have I mentioned that local chef Jose Andres has been name “Chef of the Year” by GQ? No surprise to this writer who has been championing his cuisine for a year in Whisk and Quill. Stories on his book launch for “Made in Spain – Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen” that he co-authored with MSNBC’s erudite and adorable Richard Wolffe in November 2008 and my interview with him as featured chef at the National Gallery of Art’s Garden Café in July for its Spanish armor exhibit, are still archived on the site. This past October I wrote of his “Eat, Drink, Dream” joint venture launch party with Ridgewell’s after he was tapped by Harvard to speak with Ferran Adria and in a Nibbles and Sips item I related his exclusive introduction to the US of the heavenly Iberico de Bellota pork which he prepared for us at his home in Maryland.
With the holidays upon us here’s a hot tip for the Washington area hostess. Conklyn’s Florist, an Alexandria company that has been around for over 70 years and who specializes in Dutch and other European flowers and orchids, has a new location open to the public to purchase their blooms for the same prices as the trade. One of the nation’s largest wholesalers, out of 32,000 florists they have always been in the top ten!
In pots you will find the not-Christmas-without pointsettias of all sizes, amaryllis and paper whites starting to bloom, as well as cut tulips, kangaroo paws, gerberas, sprays of cymbidiums, just like in our favorite four-star hotels, and hundreds of other to-die-for blooms for decorating our homes or as house gifts. Their new address is 4406 Wheeler Avenue in Alexandria. It’s just off Duke Street on the north side of town. Call 703 299-9000 for their special to-the-public hours. Tell owner David Hicks I sent you and don’t say I didn’t share…
 Gerbera daisies at Conklyn's wholesale outlet - photo credit Jordan Wright Little secret: Newly named White House florist, Laura Dowling of Alexandria’s Interieurs et Fleurs, has been sourcing them for ages. To make your own fabulous floral arrangements a la 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, check out her website below for divine inspiration.
The tony Lemaire Restaurant at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond which I wrote about for the Georgetowner in October has been chosen by Esquire Magazine as one of the country’s “Best New Restaurants of 2009”. Noted food critic John Mariani recognized Chef Walter Bundy’s superlative cuisine and his determination to use locally-sourced provisions.
From my friends in Middleburg – A sweet tale of a hapless pony.
 A better life - photo credit Jordan Wright Molly is a pony rescued by Kaye and Glenn Harris of Middleburg. After surviving Hurricane Katrina she met her match with a vicious pit bull whose damage caused the amputation of one of her legs and a subsequent prosthesis. A children’s book has been written about her journey and the story has traveled around the world. You can meet Molly and author, Pam Kaster, at Books and Crannies Book Store on Washington Street in Middleburg after the Christmas parade this Saturday, December 5th. This beautiful parade with hunters on horseback in full regalia starts at 11am. Molly will be signing books.
 Chef Spike Mendelsohn and Alyssa at the St. Regis bar - photo credit Jordan Wright And finally… Projected to open in late February “Spike” Mendelsohn and his Sunnyside Restaurant Group’s newest endeavor “We, The Pizza”, will offer New York style pizza and ten other more gourmet topped pies. Imagine potato and pancetta and creamed spinach pies. Spike will bring in the old soda fountain concept using homemade fruit purees for his seltzer-finished sodas, natural syrups for his egg creams (I hope he’ll use New York’s gold standard Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup for all of us purists.) and made from scratch gelatos with ingredients sourced from local Virginia farms.
Spike knows pizza from living in NY as well as his travels throughout Italy and Spain. He told me, “We wanted to put our twist on America’s favorite food.” He also plans on doing flavored jalapeno and truffled “knots” which are becoming increasingly trendy.
The sleek and retro-style restaurant will be next door to Michelle Obama’s favorite hamburger haven…Spike’s wildly successful, Good Stuff Eatery. “It’s been a great ride to be in DC and to be well respected in the Hill area where we’ve made so many friends. And we’re very proud to be opening our second restaurant in a year and a half.”
www.metrocooking.com
www.ChristmasonthePotomac.com
www.JoseAndresCatering.com
www.conklyns.com
www.lauradowling.com
www.JeffersonHotel.com
www.BooksandCrannies.com
www.GoodStuffEatery.com
For questions or comments on this article contact [email protected] or visit www.whiskandquill.com.
Jordan Wright
Whisk and Quill
October 28, 2009
 From Zaytinya - Asbit el Dajaj - Crispy chicken livers with pomegranate and mint - photo credit Jordan Wright Set your foodie circadian clocks to coordinate with the migration of the monarch butterflies, “las mariposas”, to Michoacan, Mexico and you’ll be right in time for the “Day of the Dead” celebration. From now until November 1st Oyamel Restaurant is featuring a special menu to mark this hallowed holiday that reveres our dead ancestors. Spooky is right on schedule.
Start with a “Sloe Dead Fizz”, an irresistible cocktail of gin, brandy chartreuse, lemon juice and egg whites and sample the array of “antojitos”, small plates at small prices. These tamales, created by Chef Joe Raffa use some modern and some ancient techniques taught to him by the renowned Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy.
 Hoja santa leaf used in the tamal Oaxaqueno - photo credit Jordan Wright The fragrant “hoja santa” leaf figures into a tamal from Oaxaca made with corn masa and pinto beans served with a cream foam. There are five other varieties but my favorite is a tamal from the state of Michoacan. Its filling of shredded pork, almonds, raisins and pickled jalapenos is in Swiss chard wrap for a smoky, sweet, spicy treat.
End with the delicate tamal canario made with rice flour and raisins and served with creamy spiced Mexican hot chocolate.
Secret kitchen tip: Raffa uses Hoppin’ John’s grits from Taylor, GA to replicate the heirloom taste of Native American corn.
Over at Zaytinya they are excited about the flavors and wines of Lebanon. This fall they feature a festival of “mezze oras” which begins November 9th and continues on till the 22nd.
 From Zaytinya - Mahanek a house made lamb sausage - photo credit Jordan Wright Mezzes spell yummy yet noncommittal for the diner who will enjoy grazing the tempting flavors that Chef Mike Isabella has conjured up. My favorites are Asbit el Djaj, crispy chicken livers with sumac, pomegranate and mint; Fluke Kibbeh Nayeh with bulghur, mint, radish and smoked trout roe; Duck Boureki, Isabella’s interpretation of spiced duck leg in phyllo with a hot pepper labneh; and Mahanek, an in-house made lamb sausage with currants and preserved lemon jus.
The wines from Chateau Musar were a revelation for this writer who has never previously forayed into the world of Lebanese wines…but will return. Ask your server to open the cabernets upon your arrival, before you get to the richer flavored mezzes.
Several new desserts are offered during the festival, Aawamat, crispy doughnuts with honey, rose syrup and pistachios, and Kaak-t Araa, a warm pumpkin cake with dates and labneh sorbet. Both are complemented with a glass of Moscatel from Chateau Ksara or an iced decanter of El Massaya Arak the licorice-flavored “pastis” of the Middle East.
 Chef-Owner Kaz Okochi of Masa 14 - photo credit Jordan Wright  Chef Mike Isabella of Zaytinya - photo credit Jordan Wright The new Masa 14 is surprising even its owners with its wild success. In their first week Richard Sandoval of Zengo in DC, Ketsi in the Four Seasons’ Punta Mita Mexico resort, and La Sandia in Tysons Corner and Kaz Okochi of Kaz Sushi Bistro on I Street served over 1000 guests. Wedged between the Black Cat and the Source Theatre it features Latin-Asian fusion. On my visit last Thursday the 65-seat bar was jam-packed.
The space, a former carpet showroom, has been beautifully restored and accommodates a 100-seat dining room. Red glass lamps punctuate the ceiling and cast a warm glow on the lively scene and the aroma from the wood-fired oven brings a cozy feel. This is a great place to meet friends. Prices are low and plates are meant for sharing. If you’re a tequila fanatic they offer over 120 different tequilas.
Outstanding dishes:
Tuna ceviche with coconut, pineapple and pico de gallo
Tuna Sashimi Flatbread from their wood-fired oven (Don’t ask me to choose between the tunas.)
Masa-panko calamari (nicely charred) with madras curry, lime, red jalapeno, cilantro, mint and sweet and spicy chile sauce
Kobe beef and pork meatballs
Hijiki seaweed-jicama salad with sesame, chayote and daikon sprouts
Look for their Saturday and Sunday brunches to start in November.
www.oyamel.com
www.zaytinya.com
www.masa14.com
For questions and comments contact [email protected]
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