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Jordan Wright
February 2, 2015
Special to DC Metro Theater Arts
 Chef Chris Lusk At forty-one, East Texas native and Johnson & Wales grad, Chris Lusk has seen the ins and outs of a few restaurant kitchens and learned a wide variety of international cuisines. After an externship in an Irish hotel he cooked Tex-Mex at Stephen Pyles’ Star Canyon in Dallas, Asian cuisine at an unnamed restaurant in Florida, and Italian at Otto Enoteca under Mario Batali. Later he worked with the iconic Brennan family’s Foodie’s Kitchen in Metairie and more recently at Commander’s Palace and Café Adelaide where he honed his Creole and Southern-style cooking. He is now Chef de Cuisine at Restaurant R’evolution in New Orleans.
At DC’s Acadiana in a room filled with shuckers, chefs, industry lobbyists and oyster lovers at the Gulf Oyster Industry Council’s Washington, DC event last month, I met Lusk over a platter of his incredible Crispy Oysters Rockefeller.
Jordan Wright – Can you describe the twist you put on the classic dish?
Chris Lusk – Traditionally it would be served on the half shell with a puree of purslane, chives, capers and other greens, then spiked with absinthe. Though it’s often spiked with Herbsaint, it really hadn’t been invented yet. So absinthe is used. Then it would be finished with breadcrumbs. My version has a crust made from dehydrated spinach, chives, green onions, breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Then it’s garnished with more Parmesan and a pesto made of green onions, chives and olive oil then spiked with absinthe. To prepare the oysters we drained the liquor off and marinated them the pesto then rolled in the breadcrumb mix. The crust really adheres to it. Then we flash fry them till oyster begins to plump and it’s still moist inside and crispy on the outside.
What we’re getting at this time of year is a smaller oyster. They go through phases during the year. I prefer to use a medium-sized oyster. At this time of year they are thriving in the cool water and they’re the perfect size and salinity.
You’ve been named one of Esquire magazine’s “Four Breakout Chefs to Watch”, cooked at the James Beard House and won the Louisiana Seafood Cookoff. What’s next?
I don’t know. I have a larger operation and bigger kitchen here with Restaurant R’evolution in New Orleans, and have a lot going on right now. They just opened their second restaurant, Seafood R’evolution outside of Jackson, MS in Ridgeland. It’s similar in concept but with more seafood.
Can you tell us about the dessert you prepared which prompted Esquire’s John Mariani’s to award you the “Best Dessert of 2011”?
It was a white chocolate biscuit pudding, a play on a dish my grandmother made when I was growing up. New Orleans is famous for bread pudding so my spin on it was what I was exposed to as a child where my grandmother used the leftover biscuits from breakfast. I took that inspiration and added white chocolate and a bit of Barq’s Root Beer Syrup on top, it’s an iconic soft drink that once was made here. Then I fried some pecans, which are from around here, as a garnish and I serve it with white chocolate ice cream.
I was very fortunate growing up to be exposed to farming. Growing up I spent summers with my grandparents who were farmers and I learned about canning and pickling using ingredients from the farm. My other grandparents were ranchers and raised cattle and hogs so we made sausage and used different cuts of meat. I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to learn about farming and ranching growing up.
I understand you are continuing your study of both Cajun and Creole cuisines. Can you talk about the differences between these two venerable cuisines?
Creole is more of the refined version of the French, Italian, German, and even African influences and Cajun reflects the more rustic, spicier and bolder flavors. Most Cajun is one-pot meals like jambalaya, gumbos, chicken fricasee and etoufées. What you see in New Orleans are the French dishes indicative of Creole. The use of Pernod, Herbsaint and absinthe lean more towards the Creole side. Although a lot of the lines have become blurred now – – and you can see the Creole and Cajun coming together.
Would you say you’re a fan of Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse or Justin Wilson?
That’s a hard question because I’m a fan of all of them for different reasons. Justin Wilson gave the first glimpse of what Cajun regional cuisine is. Prudhomme went to the next level with blackened fish, K-Paul’s and Commander’s Palace. He really put it out there on a larger scale. Then Emeril took it one step further. Those three guys have enabled me and my generation and the generation after mine to do what we do in New Orleans. Those guys are the ones that gave the younger chefs the opportunity to push the boundaries.
What are your favorite cookbooks?
I have Lafcadio Hearn and many others. My cookbook collection is all over the place – – Paul Prudhomme, Wilson’s books, Harold McGee and many others have influenced me in my style of cooking, including a lot of ethnic cookbooks that I use in different techniques of frying or pickling – like Japanese for instance. I learn from everyone including my dishwashers and sous chefs. You can never become too educated to learn from someone. Some of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had have been staff meals. The thing about New Orleans is everybody can cook here!
Opened in 1880 Commander’s Palace is one of the great American restaurants of all time. What did you learn while you were there?
That’s when I really started my education apart from culinary school. It really opened my eyes to Southern food. I learned a lot.
What signature dishes are you preparing at Restaurant R’evolution, the French Quarter spot where you are cooking now?
One of the dishes I recently put on was inspired by Vietnamese cuisine. It’s a Hoisin Glazed Grouper tied in with a blue crab pho broth and served with lightly pickled vegetables and rice noodles.
What new ingredients or techniques are on your radar these days?
I’m using lot of Asian ingredients like four different types of soy sauce such as Japanese and Filipino for curing eggs and making marinades, also different types of fish sauce and Indian spices. Sometimes just for myself I make sushi rice with marinated cobia and fresh wasabi. I’m inspired by the Vietnamese fishermen we have here.
Who was your first inspiration in the kitchen?
My grandparents were farmers and raised cattle and grandpa made sausage, things that are very popular now, so I was really fortunate as a child. I lived in a small city but spent summers with my grandparents who had a lot of land. We’d sit around and shuck corn, pick peas and can together. We do a lot of that at the restaurant pickles, jams etc. My grandpa used to clean out Coke bottles and make his own tomato juice and put the caps back on them. Man, that was the best tomato juice I’ve ever had!
What was the first dish you learned to cook and who did you serve it to?
I learned to make scrambled eggs as a child that I served to my mom and dad. I’m sure they were pretty rubbery and overcooked, but they were pretty nice about it.
What famous person would you like to prepare dinner for?
Thomas Keller.
Wow! No stress there.
Ha! No stress in that! I’m a big fan!
Jordan Wright
February 1, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Gigi stars Vanessa Hudgens When MGM’s movie Gigi debuted in 1958 legions of little girls were captivated by the City of Lights and its magical allure. I know. I was one of them, listening hours on end to the vinyl soundtrack by Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold, Louis Jourdan and Leslie Caron who transported us to a place we could only dream of.
Raised by her grandmère Mamita a calligraphy teacher and her spotlessly mannered grande dame, Aunt Alicia, the spunky Gigi was a paragon of insouciance. We embraced her joie de vivre, studied our français more diligently and longed for a soigné and très riche gentleman like, Gaston Lachaille, to sweep us off our feet. Indeed postwar Paris was everyone’s dream of the most exciting place in the world to be.
Fifteen years later Gigi was brought to the stage and another generation embraced Alan Jay Lerner’s and Frederick Lowe’s spectacular score and heartwarming tale. And now, 37 years hence, Director Eric Schaeffer has revived the musical in all its glorious splendor. I asked myself if it could have the same impact on a new audience as it did in the late 50’s. Does Gigi’s indelible charm translate to a more technologically absorbed generation of little girls?
 Howard McGillin as Honore Lachaille and Victoria Clark as Mamita To insure it does, Schaeffer has wisely cast Vanesa Hudgens as Gigi. An adorable and multi-talented actress, best known for her role in the wildly popular High School Musical series, Hudgens proves her acting, dancing and singing have the snap, crackle and pop to earn her the lead role against such seasoned Broadway actors and opera-caliber voices as Victoria Clark (Mamita), Dee Hoty (Aunt Alicia), Howard McGillin (Honoré Lachaille) and Steffanie Leigh as Liane d’Exelmans, Gaston’s mistress.
As you may recall Gigi is raised by her grandmother in a modest flat in Paris where the pair play frequent hosts to Gaston (Corey Cott), a dashing and well-to-do man about town who is an old family friend. Her sister Alicia, determined to marry Gigi off to a wealthy gentleman, is consumed with tutoring the girl in the art of feminine allure, including how to tell a real sapphire from a faux. “A girl must think constantly – – unless a man can tell,” she instructs her.
It is La Belle Epoque, Maxim’s is in its heyday, and all of Paris is très gai. Set Designer Derek McLane captures the mood of the era with drop-dead sets evocative of the period. Maxim’s becomes a wonderland of Can Can girls high-kicking amid red velvet banquettes and flower-shaped chandeliers, while Paris is evoked with the massive curved iron girders of the Eiffel Tower and the beach at Trouville, where Gaston sees Gigi in a new light and his Uncle Honoré revives a romance with Mamita, is a splendid seascape.
 Steffanie Leigh as Liane of Exelmans, Howard McGillin, Victoria Clark, Vanessa Hudgens, Corey Cott as Gaston Lachaille From five-time Tony Award-winning Costume Designer Catherine Zuber, we are treated to dreamy chiffon gowns, elegant frock coats, feathered picture hats, glittering jewels, bellmen in carmine britches and so much more extravagance. James Moore conducts the soaring strains of the 13-piece orchestra through the memorable songbook including “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”, “The Night They Invented Champagne” and sixteen other wonderful numbers. Emmy Award-winning Choreographer for the late, yet beloved, TV show Smash, Joshua Bergasse, enlivens the dancing with electrifying Broadway-bound energy.
Highly recommended.
Through February 12th at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St., NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
Jordan Wright
January 29, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 TC Carson, Lori Williams, Stephawn Stephens, Roz White, Djob Lyons, Nia Harris, LC Harden Jr., Bernardine Mitchell – Photo credit Chris Banks “I heard it said the Blues was the Truth.” And Bessie Smith had an intravenous line along the Truth Trail and straight to the heart of the Blues. Bessie’s Blues is a powerful homage to Smith. Produced by Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin this is neither a tribute concert, nor a paean to the late great blues singer, but a full throttle musical interpretation of her life and times, both good and bad. Bernadine Mitchell, Lori Williams and Roz White are among the cast of eight powerhouse singers.
 Bernardine Mitchell, Lori Williams, Djob Lyons, Roz White – Photo credit Chris Banks Thirty-three numbers, many co-written by the show’s writer, director and choreographer, Thomas W. Jones II, are belted, scatted, swung, jived, barbershopped and tenderly delivered by this exceptional ensemble rounded out by TC Carson, Stephawn P. Stephens, Djob Lyons, LC Harden, Jr. and Nia Harris. William Knowles leads the five-piece band that throws out some serious joint-jumpin’ chops.
The storyline that strings it together with soulful sounds is the rise to fame and fortune of the woman known as the “Empress of the Blues”. Smith’s life afforded plenty of raw material for Jones to work with – – her problems with men and managers, the Great Depression, racial discrimination, and her alcoholism. As Bessie says, “Pain ain’t got no geography.”
Mitchell, who has played iconic singers before at MetroStage – Mahalia comes to mind – owns this role and she proves it without a shadow of a doubt by reaching deep within to reveal the glory of her rare and matchless voice. Mitchell could rip the skin off a crocodile with her heart-wrenching vocals that display her breathtaking vocal range and high-wattage with the ability to scale back to lullaby level when it’s called for.
Costume Designer Frank Labovitz has adorned the women in Charleston era style with boas, feathers, fringe, red hot silk gowns and sexy lurex minis, while the men sport the plaid sharkskin suits of the Minstrel shows and the sequined vests of Vaudeville hoofers. In an uptown party scene where Smith is disastrously presented to high society, they sashay around in black tie with bowlers and canes.
 Roz White, Djob Lyons, LC Harden Jr., TC Carson, Nia Harris, Stephawn Stephens –
Photo credit: Chris Banks Roz White plays “Rhythm” a tougher side of Smith that reveals her motivation to be successful. “I could shake my bottom or pick cotton,” she declares which she does when she joins the Moses Stokes’ Traveling Show with Ma Rainey at St. Louis’s famed Ivory Theatre where the music speaks of “sweet steppin’ papas and hip shakin’ mamas”.
As “Passion” Lori Williams’s sweet voice adds a sexy, sultry element to the show. On “Wet Match” (“You can’t light a fire with a wet match.”) she shows her way of sensuously carving out notes that is both alluring and assertive at the same time.
 TC Carson, Nia Harris, Djob Lyons, LC Harden Jr., Roz White, Stephawn Stephens – Photo credit Chris Banks Nia Harris is “The Dancer” – – a sort of alter ego to Bessie. Wearing flapper dresses or flowing streams of chiffon, the sprite-like Harris weaves in and out of Smith’s journey, interpreting her travails through movement. Harris, who has trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and the Alvin Ailey School, is sheer magic as she silently executes her sinuous movements in an exquisitely choreographed interplay.
Highly recommended.
At MetroStage through March 15th – 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, 22314. For tickets and information visit www.metrostage.org.
Jordan Wright
January 27, 2014
Special to The Alexandria Times
 (L to R) Lucas Hall as Doctor Watson and Gregory Wooddell as Sherlock Holmes – Photo by Margot Schulman. As I enjoy the second mountainously entertaining Ken Ludwig drawing room comedy in less than a week, I am reminded that the Washington-based American playwright is anything but British. So how does he nail the veddy, veddy stiff-upper-lip satire that evokes the stories of P. G. Wodehouse? Ludwig draws on the schadenfreude of watching the posh get their comeuppance, a premise employed in many of his comedies, and one in which we can all delight.
In Arena Stage’s premiere of Baskerville Ludwig concocts his fiction around Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, as in The Game’s Afoot, (reviewed here last week).
 (L to R) Stanley Bahorek, Michael Glenn and Gregory Wooddell – Photo by Margot Schulman. For “the greatest, most dangerous case, in his remarkable career”, as sidekick Watson describes it, Holmes must uncover the murderer of Sir Hugo, the lord of Baskerville. As it is revealed the haunting creature, rumored to be “a great black beast”, roams the moors and rips out the throats of its victims. (A charming thought referencing Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.) When the big-hearted Texan, Sir Henry, arrives to claim his rightful stake in the Devonshire estate “Y’all got anything out here I can shoot?” the plot gets curiouser and curiouser.
 L to R) Michael Glenn and Jane Pfitsch – Photo by Margot Schulman. Gregory Wooddell plays Holmes, Lucas Hall, Doctor Watson, and four other actors Stanley Bahorek, Michael Glenn, Jane Pfitsch and Milo Tindale, play dozens of roles while dashing offstage lickety-split for changes of both costume and character. By the second act the audience is clued in to the madness of the quick change as hats, wigs and props are tossed off stage in full sight and characters and props burst forth from five trapdoors embedded in the stage floor.
 (L to R) Gregory Wooddell, Lucas Hall and Stanley Bahorek – Photo by Margot Schulman. As you may imagine the crew is as crucial in the production’s helter-skelter pace as the actors – – and neither disappoints. Sound effects from storms and trains, lighting from vaudeville period stage lights to spots in full view, and props, some of which descend from above, all contribute to the haunting atmospherics as scenes change as rapidly as the costumes and roles. There is a night at the opera, the fog of the “gimpenmeyer” that swallows ponies, Sherlock’s bespoke study, the creepy castle and multiple scene and costume changes that require lightening quick switcheroos.
Jess Goldstein created the period costumes, Philip S. Rosenberg designed the dramatic lighting effects, Joshua Horvath and Raymond Nardelli created the sounds, and Gillian Lane-Pescia trained the actors in the multiple dialects. I noted Scottish, English, Texan, Cockney, Russian, German and Spanish. Bahorek mines a lisping Spanish accent as a campy concierge in charge of a luxury hotel where there has been some, need I say, very questionable activity. Bear in mind this was written before this year’s Golden Globes-winning movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel” which closely mirrors Ralph Fiennes role as the madcap concierge.
 Stanley Bahorek in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville -Photo by Margot Schulman. Director Amanda Dehnert, whose background is mainly in Shakespeare’s plays, does a bang-up job with the pacing, turning a complex production into a seemingly effortless, entirely hilarious, Brit-wit romp.
Highly recommended.
Through February 22nd at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Jordan Wright
January 20, 2015
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Front Row (L to R) – Aggie Wheeler (Maureen R. Goldman), Daria Chase (Melissa Dunlap), Martha Gillette (Patricia Spencer Smith), and Madge Geisel (Pam Kasenetz). Back Row (L to R) – Simon Bright (Joe Quinn), William Gillette (John Henderson), Inspector Harriet Goring (Michelle Fletcher), and Felix Geisel (Chuck Leonard) – Photo credit Matt Liptak Sherlock Holmes portrayer William Gillette (John Henderson) lives with his dowager mother Martha (Patricia Spencer Smith) in his newly acquired mansion on the Connecticut River near East Haddam, Connecticut. He is at home nursing a gunshot wound he sustained from an unknown assailant while performing at his Palace Theatre. It is Christmas Eve and he has invited the cast in his long-running, self-produced play to dine and dish. Gillette describes his portrayal of Holmes as, “A play about a man of reason who stands up for the cause of justice.” All very high-minded stuff.
Actors-as-actors in a whodunit is playwright Ken Ludwig’s premise in The Game’s Afoot at The Little Theatre of Alexandria. Now you can always expect high hat hijinks from a Ludwig play, but when the characters are actors you are effectively doubling down. Gillette’s sophisticated troupe are “Class A” emoters who swan around quoting Shakespeare, Keats, FDR and dozens of writers and notable actors throughout the course of the action. Add to that tons of snappy repartee, snide asides, glamorous gowns from Costume Designers Jean Schlicting and Kit Sibley, and murder. Oh yes, there is murder most delicious, and mayhem galore.
 Simon Bright (Joe Quinn), Aggie Wheeler (Maureen R. Goldman), William Gillette (John Henderson), Felix Geisel (Chuck Leonard), Madge Geisel (Pam Kasenetz) – Photo credit Matt Liptak Simon (Joe Quinn) and Aggie (Maureen R. Goldman) and Felix (Chuck Leonard) and Madge (Pam Kasenetz), two couples who are dinner guests, are shocked when renowned theater critic and columnist Daria Chase (Melissa Dunlap) arrives under the guise of doing a puff piece on Gillette. “Everyone wants publicity!” she declares. As Martha describes Daria to her son, “She was ruthless. She was evil. She was a theater critic, for God’s sake!” I’ll admit that was my favorite line of the play and Ludwig’s plum chance to get in a dig. In one of the most hilarious scenes Daria conducts a séance to intuit the murderer, which only convolutes the entire purpose and draws the others’ motives into question.
 William Gillette (John Henderson) and Aggie Wheeler (Maureen R. Goldman) – Photo credit Matt Liptak Frank Pasqualino directs a crack cast in this tidy comedy filled with outstanding performances by Henderson (absolutely brilliant), Kasenetz, Dunlap and Smith. Set Designer John Downing draws on the original Gillette castle (Yes, Gillette was a real actor!), using medieval armaments as décor and a clever “magic” door. How LTA’s compact stage affords the sense of being in a mansion is anathema to everything conceivable about a small theater! Yet Downing achieves the impossible. Heads up: Watch for Michelle Fletcher who enters during a snowstorm to give a scene-stealing performance as Inspector Goring, a star-struck wannabe actor.
 Inspector Harriet Goring (Michelle Fletcher) – Photo credit Matt Liptak Highly recommended for hilarity.
Through February 7th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com
Jordan Wright
January 14, 2015
Special to DC Metro Theater Arts
 Chef Peter Chang One of the featured chefs for the Sips & Suppers dinners coming up next week is Peter Chang – an elusive chef known for ditching restaurant kitchens like a discardable cell phone. At last he has found in another accomplished chef, Gen Lee, the perfect partner to build an empire. The duo has already opened six successful restaurants around Virginia, with Arlington scheduled to open early February and another outpost in Rockville in March.
I’ve been a lucky duck to sample his cuisine twice in my life – once at a sumptuous banquet when he was the executive chef at DC’s Chinese Embassy in the 90’s, though I wasn’t aware he was the chef that oversaw the dozens of dishes offered at that lavish banquet. Years later on a hot tip I sought out his cooking at an obscure Chinese restaurant in a strip mall at the corner of Duke and Van Dorn in Alexandria.
Chang doesn’t dumb down his food for American palates. And it’s not for the faint of heart. As I recall the dish was the hottest, saltiest and most addictive chili pepper chicken I’d ever experienced. I have never forgotten it. By the time I planned on a return visit, he had scampered off for parts unknown leaving a trail of desperate fanatics in his wake.
Chang, who speaks no English, allows Gen Lee to act as his spokesperson. The two have cooked together for many years.
Whisk and Quill – Do you see everything in a yin/yang balance?
Gen Lee – Yes. It’s always going to be like that for us. In Sichuan Province it is very hot and wet and filled with trees. People who live there have to eat a lot of spicy food that’s why they use the Sichuan peppers.
Does Peter cook in one of the VA restaurants now?
Not on a daily basis. He cooks for parties and special events, but he also checks on every restaurant on a weekly basis. He’s very strict about that. I can’t tell you which restaurant he is cooking in at any given time, but he’s always cooking and he’s always training his cooks to get it right. We’re happy if its 90% right, because our recipes are very, very difficult. We don’t use sauce. For ten years when Peter and I worked as corporate chefs on a riverboat on the Yangtze River, we did the real, real Sichuan there.
How young was Peter when he first started cooking?
He was in high school. He always knew he wanted to cook and he went to cooking school at 18. He always watched his grandma cooking and helped her make lots of vegetarian dishes. You know, we don’t use much meat, but lots of vegetables mushrooms and such.
Does Peter listen to music when he’s cooking?
No, it’s very difficult. Everything is very quick. There are 20 different spices – different ones for different dishes – and it all happens fast.
What are some of the restaurants’ signature dishes?
The cumin lamb chops and bamboo fish, and everyone orders the dry-fried eggplant cut like steak fries.
Would you say your dishes are classic Sichuan?
Yes, it’s his specialty. But, for example, they don’t use lamb chops in China and the difference is the ingredients are better quality here.
Lately American chefs are using Asian ingredients in fusion cuisine and mixing things up. Where do you see this going?
A lot of chefs try it using French techniques. They are not using the real Chinese techniques and that worries me. These chefs are not Chinese. They are Hispanic or Korean. There are only a handful of real Chinese chefs here in America.
Chinese food has been losing favor to Thai and Korean in the past decade or so. Do you hope to bring back Chinese food to its earlier popularity?
Our dream is to bring back the real Chinese food, not just to make money. In a few years we know we can retire, but it’s not about that. Right now we have six restaurants. Already in our Richmond restaurant we are doing 500-600 a day. It’s like a war zone with like 100 people in line every day.
Will you be opening in the Northern Virginia area soon?
Yes, we will have two more restaurants – – one in Arlington and soon after in Rockville.
This interview was conducted, edited and condensed by Jordan Wright.
Dozens of prestigious local, national and world-renowned chefs will prepare the Sips & Suppers dinners on Sunday, January 25th. A separate evening of chef’s treats and cocktails takes place on Saturday, January 24th. Expect appearances by Joan Nathan, Jose Andres and Alice Waters. For further information and to purchase tickets to the fundraiser for Martha’s Table and DC Central Kitchen visit www.sips2015.eventbrite.com and www.suppers2015.eventbrite.com.
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