For reasons that will become clear later, Y&H has become obsessed with banh mi — and the many subtle ways one sandwich differs from another.

Most in the D.C. area offer variations on these basic ingredients: a pork preparation (shredded, roasted, barbecued), pâté, cold cuts (including those divine slices of head cheese for crunch), pickled veggies, slices of jalapeño, a mayo-based dressing, and some cilantro garnish, all on a crusty mini-baguette. But I have never seen anything as elaborate as this banh mi, which Anthony Bourdain wolfed down during a No Reservations trip to Vietnam.

I’m not even sure what some of those ingredients are. What’s that reddish looking sauce clinging to the sides of the baguette? A fish sauce-loaded hot sauce perhaps? And a fried-egg finish? Good God, I’ve never had such a thing around here — but I’m dying to find one soon.

Compare the banh mi that Bourdain pounds down to a combination banh mi  that I bought this weekend at Song Que:

It was tasty, yes, but I gotta think we’re missing out on some decadent banh mi in our parts.

Everyone’s favorite ruggedly-handsome, confident, opinionated, ever-so-slightly condescending former junkie/chef has published a bucket list. I won’t spoil the photo essay by duplicating the list here, but Anthony Bourdain’s “13 Places to Eat Before You Die” includes restaurants on three continents: one in London, two in Spain, one in Napa Valley, one in Singapore, one in Seattle, one in Tokyo, one in Chicago, one in Kansas City, and four in New York City (that’s almost 25% of the list in good olde NYC – it always was a hell of a town!). So, if one trusts Bourdain’s palate (and who wouldn’t trust this charming bastard?), that means that you don’t really need to visit South America, Africa, or Australia before you die, which is a relief, because two of those continents specialize in water-borne diseases, and the third boasts of its famous kangaroos which, as far as I’m concerned, are really just enormous rats.

Y&H loves Anthony Bourdain, because he’s not afraid to say things like this: Celebrity chef shows are “the new pornography. It’s people seeing things on TV, watching people make things on TV that they’re not going to be doing themselves any time soon, just like porn.”

As you might have guessed, traffic to Y&H spiked tremendously this week on the news that celebrity chef Michel Richard had plans to move his base to the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner. No other post this week had nearly as much traffic, despite the fact that Thursday was Food Day here at the paper.

1. Michel Richard Plans to Move His Home Base to Tysons Corner
2. Pepsi Throwback: Right Back Where We Started
3. The University of Florida Arrives, Dines, and Dashes
4. Watch the Deleted Eamonn’s Segment from Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ Show on D.C.
5. If Not Expansion Plans, What Is Ben’s Next Move? Think Shipping.
   

Another week, another long list of blog items to review to learn which were your faves.  No surprise: Anthony Bourdain still rocks your world.

1. Watch the Deleted Eamonn’s Segment from Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ Show on D.C.
2. Gastrosexuals Are the New Metrosexuals
3. The Oyster Experience from Hell
4. Here’s One Thing You Can Do with Leftover Cadbury Creme Eggs
5. All the Food News You Can Use [Monday edition]

Funny thing, but Y&H was supposed to serve as Anthony Bourdain’s tour guide for this trip to Eamonn’s A Dublin Chipper in Old Town, a segment that ultimately didn’t make the cut for the recent D.C. episode of No Reservations. [Watch the deleted segment here.]

But by the time I was done showing Bourdain around the Eden Center and Abay Market, the host was toast, and I had to catch a ride to New York. After we had eaten as much raw beef as we could handle at Abay — or as little in Bourdain’s case, since he wasn’t a fan — the lead producer called me outside and said I was free to go. Tony was still wiped from the previous day’s shoot, the producer told me, and needed to get some shut-eye before heading to Eamonn’s. I have to admit, Bourdain did look pretty rough as he slouched his way outside and smoked a cigarette, a New York punk who still enjoyed a good bender a half century into life.

Regardless, my first reaction was to feel the sting of rejection. You see, the producers had put together a tight, ambitious schedule for the day, in which we would eat, drink, talk, and travel around Northern Virginia from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., hitting the Eden Center, Abay, and Eamonn’s. I was to play Bourdain’s monkey boy all day long—until, that is, Dr. Feelgood got pooped and needed to take nappy-poo.

Read More “Watch the Deleted Eamonn’s Segment from Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ Show on D.C.” »

The Best of D.C. issue dominated readers’ attention this week on Young & Hungry, including my mea culpa about Best New Restaurant. It’s nice to see that teeth-gnashing confessionals haven’t lost their power to attract attention.

1. Best of D.C.: A Confession About Best New Restaurant
2. Best of D.C.: Which New Restaurant Deserves Top Honors?
3. Things Just Not Flowing at H Street Country Club
4. Best of D.C. Food & Drink Now Online
5. Bourdain: Recession Will Cause An ‘Apocalyptic Shakeout’ of Nation’s Restaurants

Leave it to Anthony Bourdain to cut through all the PR crap about the economy’s effect on restaurants. He tells Nation’s Restaurant News that the recession is a serious wake-up call for operations that still think they can soak diners with overpriced wine and liquor. Says Bourdain:

On the other hand, there’s going to be a very rude awakening for a lot of types of restaurants if they’re not aware yet how drastically things have changed.… There is going to be an apocalyptic shakeout. On the plus side, the bullsh** will be the first to go.

Read More “Bourdain: Recession Will Cause An ‘Apocalyptic Shakeout’ of Nation’s Restaurants” »

Yes, I watched some of the Top Chef reunion show last night, and let me say this right from the start: The main reason Fabio won fan fave is because Americans are still suckers for Italian accents. Could this show have been less about the art and craft of cooking? That Baldies-with-Photoshopped-Hair segment? Jump. The. Shark. Time.

Whoa, I’m feeling cranky this morning. Let’s move on to the blogs for more reunion commentary.

• Pop Watch wonders if the show is “too concerned with turning the spotlight on likable hotties rather than the sweaty, ugly reality of making deeply delicious dishes.”
• Show Tracker desperately wants the producers to bring Anthony Bourdain back to the judges table—at whatever cost.
• Gawker live blogged the entire show, which I didn’t take the time to read. I have a life.
• Judge Toby Young thinks gay liberation has opened the door to bromances like the one between Stefan and Fabio.
• A couple of commenters on Chowhound think Carla Hall seemed subdued during the reunion, as if she were still kicking herself over the finale.

And one final thought from the Y&H peanut gallery: Do you think an embarrassed Jeff McInnis lied when he said that People magazine had misquoted him? That he didn’t actually call Tom Colicchio’s food boring? I think he lied, and I think it would have made far better TV if McInnis had just reversed tables on Colicchio and said, “Yeah, man, I’ve never had a decent meal in one of your restaurants. Maybe you’re spending too much time on reality TV and not enough in your own kitchens.”

The new El Pollo Rico in Wheaton looks as if it were actually designed for its intended purpose—selling those browned beauties pulled from the charcoal rotisserie. Unlike its previous location just a block or two away, this Pollo Rico spot is both stylish and functional.

The stylish elements—the upscale advertising posters, the French bistro paintings—don’t do a thing for me, unless they’re intended as irony (which would then tickle me no end). But I love the place’s new sense of functionality, beginning with the waiting line that’s actually inside the structure. No longer do you need to brave the elements to satisfy your urge for a to-go container of the joint’s namesake “delicious chicken.” But I also like where the owners placed the butcher board—right in front of your face at the counter, behind a protective window, where a woman pulls the charcoal birds from a holding unit and whacks away at them with a cleaver. The act is aggressive. It’s dramatic. It’s dinner and show at El Pollo Rico.

But as I’m proving with this very blog post, El Pollo Rico gets a lot of media attention; sometimes, of course, it’s not so flattering. But often it is, including Anthony Bourdain’s drive-by on his recent No Reservations episode on D.C. (Full disclosure: I gave Bourdain’s producer the tip for El Pollo Rico.)

Our region, however, is stuffed with pollo a la brasa. I want to know where you like to eat Peruvian chicken. After the jump, I’ve listed a number of spots that sell the stuff. Do me a solid and write some comments on your favorites. I have a sneaking suspicion that your words may end up in next week’s paper, if you catch my drift, and I think you do.

Read More “El Pollo Rico: Is It a Magnet Because It’s Good or Hyped?” »