Welcome to the second installment of All About Eve, Young & Hungry's behind-the-scenes glimpse of working at Restaurant Eve. Part I is here. "Try this," said Cathal Armstrong after the lunch round on a sultry afternoon in late August. It was a giant bowl of neon-green sauce of some sort, made from a vat of [...]
This is my fridge. As a food lover and sometimes food writer, I have not bought groceries from a Harris Teeter or Whole Foods, let alone a farmers market, since late July. This empty shell reflects the sorry state of my kitchen. How did I get here? Having found myself at a work-life crossroads, I [...]
Starting on Tuesday, former Inox sommelier and New Heights chef John Wabeck will join the Eat Good Food Group, the ever-expanding company that already runs four of the finest establishments in Old Town, including Restaurant Eve, Eamonn's, and The Majestic. "We're very excited," says co-owner Meshelle Armstrong about the company's new hire. "Hopefully he can [...]
Few restaurants have the pedigree of Locolat, yet the place barely rates more than a passing reference from most professional palates, as if we can’t be bothered with a mere chocolate shop that caters to a lunchtime crowd with a line of humble sandwiches. But let’s review the facts: Owner Niel Piferoen has studied with, [...]
As reported today by Ed Bruske, a group of local chefs, led by Restaurant Eve's Cathal Armstrong, is working on a pilot program to try to improve the lunch program at Tyler Elementary on Capitol Hill. Armstrong has formed a non-profit, Chefs as Parents, as a way to break the economic stranglehold that forces school [...]
Meshelle Armstrong has been on the warpath about Todd Kliman's recent opinion column for The Daily Beast on the "locavore wine hypocrisy." It's a provocative piece, full of writerly angst about how, for many restaurants, the "buy local" philosophy stops at the local vineyard's front door. Kliman singles out Restaurant Eve, where Armstrong and her [...]
As a coda to our short hymn to a mother's influence on chefs and restaurateurs, I turn to Cathal Armstrong, chef and owner of this year's Best Restaurant. Here's what Armstrong had to say about his "mam":
After watching one D.C. nominee after another strike out last night at the James Beard Foundation Awards — from Komi's Johnny Monis in the Rising Star Chef category to CityZen's Amanda Cook in the Outstanding Pastry Chef category — I thought for sure José Andrés would win the Outstanding Chef medal. I mean, Andrés had all [...]
Whoever decided coffee was a social lubricant, deserving of a sunny space filled with tables and couches and vibrant conversation, has never really stopped to examine the culture of java drinking. Haven't they noticed that it's the first liquid of the day, when most humans are still fighting with their reptilian brains and trying to [...]
As many of you know already, the James Beard Foundation Tweeted its way through the nominees this morning for its annual Beard Awards. The D.C. market fared well once again, both in the restaurant/chef and journalism categories. Don't worry, I'm not here to toot my own horn. I'm here instead to point out a potentially [...]
