He prefers the term "builds," of course. "You always build a sandwich," Cooper tells me, "because people who make sandwiches should just make peanut butter and jelly."

At his Blagden Alley restaurant on Monday night, the Rogue Toque fashioned a makeshift panini press out of a small collection of shiny pots, pans, tin foil—and, at one point, even employed the arms of one of his underlings ("I don't have a brick," he explained)—which he used to construct me a pretty substantial sandwich. It consisted of corned beef, sauerkraut, pork belly, and gruyere, dressed with red wine aioli and creole mustard, all crushed between what appeared to be two thinly breaded loaves of butter. "It's all heart healthy," he jokes.

The name of the sandwich? "Shott in the Heart," he tells me. ("Derek came up with that one," he adds, referring to Rogue 24 bartender Derek Brown.)

An appropriate, if somewhat morbid, moniker, what with the Coop preparing to undergo open-heart surgery the following day.

Still, I was feeling pretty honored by the namesake. At least until fellow food scribe Amanda McClements mentioned that the restaurant has a cocktail named after her, too.

The occasion for this bold display of intricate sandwich-making—er, building: a Gilt City soiree toasting the launch of "Rogue Sessions," a series of guest chef dinners taking place at the restaurant over the next several months while Cooper recovers from his operation. The $185-per-person dinners kick off Tuesday night with Volt's Bryan Voltaggio in the guest slot.

For a guy facing life-threatening health issues, Cooper sure acted good-humored about the whole thing—surreal send-off celebration and all. "It's like when you're in Manhattan and a car flips over and everyone's watching," he tells me while his monstrous sandwich is cooking.

This grand corned beef build-out could be the start of something new for Cooper. The chef tells me he'd like to open his own sandwich shop—one with bread that doesn't rip up the roof of your mouth when you eat it.

Here's to hoping for a successful surgery and speedy recovery, chef, so that your sandwich-making dreams might become a reality.

Online site City Eats is handling reservations, beginning Jan. 2.

Read the full announcement, if you care to, below:

Celebrity Chefs Rally Around Rogue 24 for Rogue Sessions, as Chef/Owner RJ Cooper Faces Open Heart Surgery

Rogue 24, Gilt City D.C., and the Food Network’s CityEats Launch Rogue Sessions, kicking off January 10th, 2012.

D.C.’s James Beard Award-winning Chef RJ Cooper will be forced to step away from his brand new restaurant Rogue 24 in January to undergo open-heart surgery to correct a genetic heart defect known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which could be life-threatening if not treated.

In his place, ten of RJ Cooper’s friends, and some of the nation’s most exciting chefs, will each take over Rogue 24 for a week during Rogue Sessions, including former Top Chef contestant Bryan Voltaggio and 2011 James Beard Oustanding Chef, José Andrés. The sessions will go from January 10th to March 17th, 2012.

Gilt City Insider Amanda McClements (of Metrocurean) and Gilt City’s Chief Lifestyle Advisor Lee Schrager, founder of the Food Network’s South Beach and New York Food & Wine Festivals, have put together Rogue Sessions in partnership with Gilt City D.C. and the Food Network’s CityEats.

Chef RJ Cooper says, "It’s in trying times that you appreciate the people you’ve surrounded yourself with. Chefs have always come together to support each other, whether borrowing tools, sharing techniques or supporting worthy causes. This is a natural extension of that support and I'm truly humbled and grateful for these very talented chefs."

Chefs will be announced and seats will be sold 1-week in advance exclusively on Gilt City for $185 per person.This includes the 24-course dinner featuring twelve of the visiting chef’s dishes and twelve Rogue 24 favorites with wine and cocktail pairings by celebrity bartender Derek Brown and Beverage Director JP Fetherston. There will be 250 seats available per week (50 per night). Reservations will be handled by CityEats.

Chef RJ Cooper will be donating a portion of each ticket to Share Our Strength, an organization he’s supported for 22 years, whose mission is to end childhood hunger in America.

The first session will feature Chef Bryan Voltaggio of VOLT and the newly opened Lunchbox. Tickets go on sale Monday, January 2nd for the week of January 10th-14th.

The roster of chefs include:

José Andrés (Washington, D.C.)
Chef/Owner of ThinkFoodGroup and 2011 James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Chef

Tim Byres (SMOKE – Dallas, TX)
Chef/Owner of SMOKE Restaurant in Dallas, featured in Food & Wine Magazine as having one of the Ten Best Restaurant Dishes in America (December 2010)

Jennifer Carroll (Philadelphia, PA)
Chef/Owner of Carroll Couture Cuisine, formerly of 10Arts by Eric Ripert, Le Bernardin, and season 6 of Top Chef

John Currence (Oxford, MS)
Chef/Owner of City Grocery Restaurant Group, 2009 James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef South, and season 3 of Top Chef Masters

Scott Drewno (Washington, D.C.)
Chef of Wolfgang Puck’s The Source and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s 2010 Chef of the Year

Katsuya Fukushima (Washington, D.C.)
Chef/Owner of the much anticipated Ramen restaurant Daikaya opening in 2012 and formerly of minibar and Café Atlantico

Spike Gjerde (Baltimore, MD)
Chef/Owner of Woodberry Kitchen and Baltimore’s preeminent Chef

Nancy Oakes (Boulevard – San Francisco, CA)
Chef/Owner of Boulevard, James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef California, and San Francisco’s most beloved Chef

David Posey (Chicago, IL)
Chef of 4-star restaurant Blackbird and formerly of Alinea

A semi-regular roundup of tantalizing developments outside the District

Frederick, Md.—Volt's Bryan Voltaggio not only has his sprawling $2 million North Market Kitchen concept in the works. The former Top Chef contestant tells WaPo critic Tom Sietsema that he's also opening a 30-seat soup-and-sandwich joint called Lunchbox, as well as a yet-unnamed diner coming this spring.

Arlington, Va.—Memphis Barbeque in Crystal City could open as soon as Nov. 25. WaPo's special smoked meat correspondent Jim Shahin investigates the cagey ways of proprietor Chris George, who confirms only that the place "will serve wet and dry ribs, which, this being a Memphis-style barbecue restaurant, is a little like the owner of a burger joint saying he will sell burgers."

Alexandria, Va.—Cathal and Mechelle Armstrong's long-awaited "epicurean emporium," Society Fair, is expected to open by Christmas. The couple takes HuffPo DC on a tour of the yet unfinished food market, which will include a bakery, butchery, wine shop, bar, and demo kitchen.

Merrifield, Va.—Cava Grill has leased a 2,100-square-foot space for its next location in the Mosaic District now under development. Washington Business Journal has the scoop.

"It had the same dense, meaty and yet flaky texture of eel with a real sweet aftertaste to it," he said. "It's a good fish. It should be. It spends all day eating bass and other tasty fish."

Photo by Brian Gratwicke/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Bryan Voltaggio

The Huffington Post reports that Batali and partner Joe Bastianich are planning to open a Washington-area spin-off of their 40,000-square-foot Flatiron-area food-and-beverage emporium by the end of 2012.

Contacted by HuffPo, Voltaggio rebuffs suggestions that Batali and company's arrival might spoil his own plans, noting Eataly's reliance on imported goods, in particular: "Mine's going to be very much based on American cuisine, with meat and poultry from within 200 miles of Frederick."

Photo by Charles Haynes/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

In the lead-up to the Rammys, the so-called Oscars of the D.C. food scene, City Paper held a contest in which Young & Hungry readers could submit their own reviews, detailing their best dining experiences of 2011, with the two best submissions nabbing two tickets to Sunday's big soiree at the Marriott Wardman Park. Herewith, winning contestant Lori Gardner of Silver Spring on Table 21 at Volt:

The phone rang at 10:30 am.  It was a friend and she was in the car with my husband.  That's odd, I thought.  They were on the way to the emergency room.  My husband had been playing softball with the synagogue Men's Club League and a ball landed square on his nose.  "Is he ok?"  I asked.  "I'm fine," I heard him say, although he sounded like he had the worst cold ever.  Oh no, I thought, we have a 7:00 reservation at Volt's Table 21.  Those take at least a year to get, unless you luck out and snag a cancellation, as I had.  I didn't bring it up.  I'm not that insensitive. (I know, I know, I did think it).

As I headed to the emergency room, he called with an update and to reassure me that he would be fine to go to dinner.  "We'll see," I said.  "Whew," I thought.

My husband's nose was broken and he needed a couple of stitches, but by 6:00 pm that night he was feeling fine and wanted to keep our plans to celebrate both his birthday and an early Mother's Day.  (note to my kids if you are reading this:  you are not off the hook in terms of getting me a gift.  The Mother's Day thing was just a good way to rationalize spending a whole lot of money on dinner).

Volt is one of my favorite restaurants.  Chef/owner Bryan Voltaggio was the runner up in Season Six of "Top Chef."  I dined at Volt before Bryan gained acclaim on "Top Chef" and I have dined there since. I must admit that there is an added thrill to dining at Volt after watching Bryan on fifteen episodes of a television series, following him on Twitter, and yes even having his Bobble Head on my desk at work (pictured above), thanks to a thoughtful friend.
Volt's Table 21 is a twenty-one course tasting menu. Eight diners are seated around the food prep area, so you have a bird's eye view of artwork in the making. As we are seated, Bryan is already at work two feet away from me. He is working intensely with liquid nitrogen.  There is a spurt and spray goes flying onto my husband's face.  It seems to be his day for getting hit with flying objects.  Fortunately this one is harmless. Bryan barely looks up but apologizes.

I am mesmerized.  As an avid viewer of cooking shows, I've watched chefs doing intricate preparations with tweezers and squeeze bottles and other unidentifiable strangely scientific looking apparatus.  But this is not television.   It is the real thing.  I turn to my husband to see if he is experiencing the same kind of thrill.  (remembering that this is mostly about his birthday).  Fortunately he is.

I am wondering how we are going to handle twenty-one individual courses of food.  I expect the portions to be infinitesimal. As the food service begins, I am pleasantly surprised.  The portions are big enough so that when you are loving something you can have more than one bite, but not too large that you can't enjoy what is ahead.

If you want to know the punchline, here it is:  this is an exceptional meal and experience.  Every course is well thought out and presented with true artistry.  The care that goes into the elements of each and every dish is extraordinary.  Admittedly,  there is quite a bit of foam. Foamy food is not for everyone.  I like foam. The thing I like best though is that a celebrity chef (I'm sure that Bryan absolutely detests that term) is actually preparing my food.  This is a big deal considering how many of us patronize a restaurant because of a particular chef who is actually not anywhere remotely close to the kitchen where our food is being prepared.

I won't bore you by detailing all twenty-one courses, but will share some photos of seven of the courses. My husband, who eats no meat and no shellfish, has some substitutions for my lamb, strip loin and pork belly.  But he never feels as if he is missing a thing.

goat cheese ravioli, vegetable ash, salsify, maitake mushrooms

study of parsnip bourbon gastrique, parsnip bard

arctic char, cucumber, creme fraiche, horseradish

 

hen egg flowers and herbs, quinoa, ruby chard, asparagus

rockfish, morels mushrooms, creamed spinach or ramps (I had strip loin)

"Spring garden" fiddlehead ferns , cherry glen farm chevre

dulce de leche, honey, lime, pineapple

Can we eat all twenty-one courses?  When we are on course number fifteen I ask our server weakly "how many more?"  "Two more savory and then dessert," she responds with a smile. I power through.  I cannot finish my last dessert (textures of chocolate) but considering I've had three others before it, it really is okay.

This is definitely one of the best meals I have ever had.  Only one thing would have made it absolutely perfect.  A welcome or goodbye from Bryan would have made me ecstatic.  He actually served us two of our courses and I was so tempted to say something to him, but he never made eye contact and I just couldn't get up the nerve.  And what would I say?  I'm a big fan?  Your food is amazing?  Your bobble head adorns my desk? I could have said any of those things but I knew it would probably make both of us uncomfortable in the end, so I said nothing.

On the way home my sister called to tell us there was breaking news and the President was about to make a big announcement.  I thought we had enough breaking news for one day.  I turned on CNN and Wolf Blitzer was saying that we would always remember where we were when it was announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed. A visit to the ER, dinner at  Volt's Table 21, and the death of bin Laden...a memorable day indeed.

Read Lori's blog "Been There, Eaten That" here.

Photos by Lori Gardner

To those annoyed by the state of Maryland's regulations that prohibit out-of-state wineries from shipping directly to Old Line State residents, there's promising news in Annapolis. As the Baltimore Business Journal reported late last week, reform legislation was filed in the House and Senate on Friday.

The Washington Post's Ann E. Marimow reported on Monday:

But a key component of the bill will likely face stiff opposition from the powerful alcohol industry. As written, the measure would allow consumers to buy wine directly from out-of-state retailers.

Anticipating such opposition, [Maryland Del. Del. Dereck] Davis said last week, "I'm going to do what I can to forge a consensus." A compromise bill, for instance, could allow direct shipment from wineries – but not from out-of-state retailers.

The Restaurant Association of Maryland is opposed to reform, which is being pushed by some big names in the business, including Top Chef/Volt's Bryan Voltaggio.

Stay tuned ...

Photo by Flickr user Theo Geo using a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

According to a statement from the Restaurant Association of Maryland, which said a majority of its members, 63 percent, oppose corkage:

While there is currently little consumer demand for the practice, we believe that the publicity surrounding such a law change would encourage more customers to bring their own bottles. Our member restaurants fear that, as a result, the law change will decrease wine and beverage sales, create confusion about serving control and regulatory compliance, create potential customer relations issues for restaurants that choose to continue prohibiting the practice despite a law change, and lead to future law changes allowing customers to bring in other alcoholic beverages. Moreover, restaurants pay expensive liquor license fees and many believe that Wine Corkage will diminish the value of liquor licenses.

Back in November, Voltaggio outlined his case for legislative reform on corkage in a letter to RAM:

We are at a disadvantage to both restaurants without a liquor license and those in other jurisdictions like Washington, DC and Pennsylvania where corkage is legal. Our best customers are forced out of state on their most special occasions if they want to drink a particular bottle of wine because we cannot lawfully allow them to bring it onto our premises. We know many patrons that already drive outside Maryland for their birthdays, anniversaries, etc., robbing our state and industry of valuable income while undermining the relationship we have come to build with them. These very customers tend to be some of our best, and we would very much like to accommodate them.

Stay tuned. This could be the year corkage restrictions are lifted in Maryland.

Photo by Flickr user Theo Geo using a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license