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photo by Roy Wright/Local Kicks The rough-hewn Steve Gatward opened his butcher shop "Let's Meat on The Avenue" in Del Ray a year ago. Born an Englishman, he migrated to Australia where he lived for 25 years, becoming well versed in the culture, and picking up a bit of charming Aussie twang.
By Jordan Wright
It’s been less than a year since Steve Gatward opened his butcher shop on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray.
The rough-hewn Gatward took the circuitous route to get to our shores. Born an Englishman he migrated to the land Down Under where he lived for 25 years, becoming well versed in the culture. It seems that there he picked up a bit of charming Aussie twang.
I had heard that his shop “Let’s Meat on the Avenue” had kangaroo meat and, inspired by the recent balmy weather, I thought it might be fun to throw some “on the barbie”
It was late afternoon and golden shafts of sunlight filtered into the sparkling shop beaming down on an old wooden cutting block where lay the largest oven-browned dog bones I had ever seen. Alexandria is one of the ten top dog friendly cities in the country and to our beloved canines coming here must be like making the Hajj for pilgrims.
Shelves of gourmet spices, grill sauces and accompaniments were martialed together waiting to be paired up with your choice of meat. The rosy loins and chops were aligned side-by-side awaiting a sheet of crisp white butcher paper before the rush home for supper’s preparation. More
By Jordan Wright
 Turandot and her father, the mandarin. Maija Kovalevska made her Kennedy Center debut as the slave-girl, Liu, in this season’s Turandot and the role will never be the same. Her portrayal of the sympathetic Liu was nothing less than transcendent.
With a voice that renders music “noteless,” pours forth pure and effortless in its transitions, and a physical presence that captures her tragedy with balletic passion, Kovalevska owned every moment that she was on stage.
This “Lily of Latvia” challenges all who have ever sung the role and those who have yet to.
Like Alexander Pope’s sylph, full of spleen and vanity, Sylvie Valayre, as the bloodthirsty Princess Turandot, stalks the stage seeking revenge and becomes the very thing that she despises, cruel and loveless. Unfortunately, Valayre’s performance was neither sympathetic nor nuanced, so that when at last she is revealed by Calaf’s kiss to be a frightened girl, we are stymied by the sudden shift.
Dario Volente gave the vainglorious Calaf his all, but it was not enough to bolster the Persian prince. His Calaf was competent but devoid of heft, his stultifying voice following the libretto as notes on a page.
A very bright note was the brilliant set design by Sally Jacobs that reminds one of Canton Famille Rose porcelain, with its delicate depictions of Chinese life.
When Ping, Pang and Pong, fearing Calaf will fail the test of the three riddles, and hoping to flee their awful fate, wax nostalgic with homesickness, Jacobs employs a hand-painted bolt of silk fabric depicting scenic landscapes. This billowing panel unfolds behind them and travels across the stage like Christo’s “Running Fence”, quickly transforming the set to accommodate the music.
Her slate grey backdrop of a Chinese palace serves to further enhance the bright costumes and Kabuki-style masks in this amalgam of Asian culture that Puccini imagined.
Well-received too, was conductor, Keri-Lynn Watson, making her Washington National Opera debut with this production, which closed June 4.
By Jordan Wright
March 2009
 Photo Roy Wright The importance of a restaurant’s ambience can never be overstated. If upon entering a restaurant one feels transported to Russia, Germany or The Forbidden City without ever showing a passport…so much the better…especially if it’s only a quick Metro ride or few gallons drive.
When I stepped into the ultra-romantic L’Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls, VA last week for chef d’amour Jacques Haeringer’s dinner and gourmet cooking class, I felt at once in the province of Alsace. For those unfamiliar, this quintessential auberge is a 30-minute drive from downtown Washington. With its open hearth, copper bed warmers and iconic roosters, reigning over the rustic chic décor, one is instantly in maman’s kitchen in the French countryside, enjoying her gracious food and hospitality.
Opened in 1954 in downtown DC, where it soon became one of the city’s great French watering holes, Papa Haeringer later moved and transformed it into an authentic Alsatian-style inn situated on six acres, where it has consistently garnered high accolades as a gastronomic destination.
Chef Jacques’s presentation of “Lewd Food: Food as Foreplay”, an epicurean adventure for lovers, is a non-passport experience that provided me with a transcendent Gallic moment giving solace to soul and palate. Part of an ongoing series held at the inn, his dining demos been chronicled monthly on the nationally syndicated Food and Wine Radio Network and devotees have followed the ebullient chef on CNN, ABC, Fox News, The History Channel and his own popular cooking show, “Two for Tonight” on PBS. He has written two books, “Two For Tonight”, with seductively delicious dinner-for-two recipes, and “The Chez Francois Cookbook”, a primer on Alsatian cooking that showcases his talents and recounts tales at the inn.
On this night a special meat-centric class featured Wagyu (we know it as Kobe) beef …as steak tartare, tri-tip and flat iron steak. Jacques, who would like to “be a Kobe cow, because they are given sake, beer and a massage by scantily-clad Japanese girls”, likes to spice up his show with references to the aphrodisiac qualities and historical influences of his ingredients, kept his “students” rapt with his amusing stories and witticisms. He knows the best way to a lover’s heart is with food, humor and romance, a la Francais.
Between courses the evening’s wine expert, Matthew Tucker, of The Country Vintner, introduced the seated guests to paired wines from Australia. Notable was a cabernet, “Sarah’s Blend 2007 from Marcus Phillips, with its intriguing 18th century-styled illustration of a fantasy creature, half-eagle half-kangaroo they call the “Roogle”, and a Lengs and Cooter non-vintage sparkling shiraz blend. These shirazs from Australia are becoming quite popular and paired correctly are fun, affordable and delicious.
Chef Jacques will continue his five-course cooking and dining series throughout the season. Go to www.chefjacques.com for information on how to register…and let the romance begin!
By Jordan Wright
March 23, 2009
 After many hours, I managed to pluck every feather by hand and at last stared down at the lowly bird whose size and majesty had diminished substantially. My earliest foray into the preparation of game came quite unexpectedly a number of years ago. I was wintering on Long Island’s South Shore in an old farmhouse beside the sea. It was unseasonably temperate along the Montauk Peninsula with the seasonal thermal inversion created by the Atlantic’s proximity to the estuarine waters of the Napeague Bay.
I spent that hauntingly beautiful winter alone, save for four cats, and a golden retriever that appeared on my doorstep each morning and stayed with me during the daylight hours faithfully returning to his owner at night. He trotted beside me on my daily beach walks and on crisp afternoons spent at a nearby stable where he would wait in the barn while I exercised the horses with the stables’ owners. Continue reading A Pheasant Food Memory
 THE VIRGINIA WINE COUNTRY: Last weekend in Richmond, new Virginia wineries medaled along with those who have been winning and garnering attention for years. By Jordan Wright
A quick jaunt to Richmond this past weekend to meet our Virginia vintners and witness the Governor’s Gold Medal awards ceremony, delivered more than expected. New wineries medaled along with those who have been winning and garnering attention for years.
The three-day event featured a blind wine tasting with importer and famed wine critic and Bartholomew Broadbent who chose a Virginia wine to be compared with an import.
Broadbent, named by Decanter Magazine as one of the “50 Most Influential People in the Wine World…the Faces to Watch in the New Millennium,” was a most erudite host who guided the guests at this sit-down reserve tasting as they were asked to distinguish between the pair of wines and name their preference.
After 12 wines were tasted the votes were equally split, proving that Virginia wines can and do stand up to the best from around the world, including those he selected from Germany, New Zealand, France and Portugal.
Later that evening at The SunTrust Governor’s Cup Grand Tasting and industry awards ceremony, a ticketed group enjoyed their special reserve wine tastings with heavy hors d’oeuvres from area restaurants, including a delicious offering of Braised Brisket with Three-Cheese Anson Mills Grits and Wine-braised Red Cabbage from the posh Jefferson Hotel’s TJ’s Restaurant nearby. Link to the whole article
By Jordan Wright
Discovering the Jamieson Grill is like finding an old friend on Facebook…surprising yet comfortably familiar.
For those of us who have lived in Alexandria for 20 or more years, as I have, we have watched the promising development of the Eisenhower Avenue corridor. Where once there were warehouses, empty fields and a go-cart track, there are now hotels, movie theatres, high-rises and businesses rising up from a previous wasteland.
We’ve seen the old Federal Courthouse on Washington Street, moved to its elegant new building on Courthouse Square and The U.S. Patent and Trade Office with its pulsing night-time light show has brought more than 9,000 new jobs to our town from its Crystal City location. What some of you may not know is throughout this new area, can be found some of the city’s most exciting new venues.
The Westin Alexandria opened in 2007 and recently I had the opportunity to visit the Jamieson Grill and Trademark Bar that are centered in this emerging community.
This sleek hotel with its mid-century modern interior is well located in the Eisenhower Valley area of Alexandria. The Grill offers valet parking for its dinner guests, an auspicious way to start your evening…and on a weekend night that is a real convenience.
The entrance to the restaurant, through the grand lobby passes by the spectacular 20-foot high kinetic wooden clock by artist James Borden. Link to the whole article
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