A couple of weeks ago, Y&H asked you to nominate the entrees and appetizers and desserts that you felt were worthy of inclusion into a D.C. Dish Hall of Fame. Y’all tore into the assignment like a pack of wolves on a dead carcass.  I received Tweets, personal e-mails, and lots of suggestions via the comments section.

Then for this week’s Young & Hungry column, I contacted a few chefs for their input on HOF dishes. All told, between the public and chefs, you nominated more than 100 dishes, with very little overlap. I’ve narrowed down the list down to the 30 dishes that could represent D.C. well, if elected to the hall.

Now it’s your turn. You can vote for three dishes and three dishes only. The top five vote-getters will be part of the inaugural class of the D.C. Dish Hall of Fame. You have until Dec. 11 to vote.

Pass the word around!

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

The Margherita at 2Amys: Does it make the cut?

Earlier this week, I was noshing on the roast chicken at Palena Cafe, reveling once again in Frank Ruta’s ability to add and coax flavors from this generous, succulent portion of breast, wing, and leg meat. That’s when the thought struck me: This is, hands-down, one of the area’s greatest dishes. It deserves a spot in some sort of local culinary hall of fame.

The roast chicken is an obvious one, but what other dishes would make the cut? I’ve been pondering this and have drafted a number of nominees. The list is, by no means, complete. It needs your suggestions.

Once we get a solid roster of nominees, we’ll put them to a public vote here on the Y&H blog. The top 10 vote getters will go into the City Paper’s inaugural D.C. Dish Hall of Fame. Winners will receive everlasting glory.

The working list of nominees:

Read More “Seeking Nominees for City Paper’s Inaugural D.C. Dish Hall of Fame” »

One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return.

I absolutely refuse to feel ashamed that D.C.’s best taqueria is run by a Harvard-grad gringa with a James Beard Award to her credit. Hell, if that were the case, I’d also have to feel bad that one of the District’s best hamburgers is produced by a Frenchman (Michel Richard at Central). The truth is, Ann Cashion is a student of la cocina mexicana, and her tiny takeout behind Johnny’s Half Shell proves she has deep respect for a cuisine too often bastardized for an easy buck. (You listening, you Salvadoran-Mexican joints?) I’m still trying to figure out how her corn tortillas taste so fresh when they’re not even made in house.

Taqueria Nacional, 400 N. Capitol St. NW, (202) 737-7070

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Bill O’Reilly is all worked up about former President Clinton’s hypocrisy on healthy eating. I’d argue that food hypocrisy is just a natural part of the human experience: We know we should eat better, but we can’t keep our needy little paws off those burgers and fries. Far less forgivable is Clinton’s choice of patty providers: Z Burger.

Please allow Y&H to provide a plan of attack the next time you, Mr. Clinton, have a jones for a burger, fries, and shake: Stop at Central Michel Richard for the celebrity chef’s excellent burger and fries, then hop into the motorcade and go to Good Stuff Eatery for one of Spike Mendelsohn’s amazing, custard-based shakes, which you can treat as dessert.

This morning, I got into a small online argument with a fellow D.C. gastronome (can I just pause here and say that I hate almost all the words used to describe a food lover; they all carry the connotation that you can’t tie your shoes without the help of a sommelier or bus boy) who disagreed with my decision to exclude the local heavy hitters from my Young & Hungry Dining Guide.

Wrote this epicure (again with the gastro-dandy terms) over two separate e-mails:

No Komi? Omitting Citronelle is trendy. Omitting Komi is foolhardy. (And no, I’m not a New Yorker. I think Komi beats Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, which is 3 stars and top ten in the “best in the world” list.)

Having places on your list that are not on Tom’s or Todd’s is what makes it interesting and cool. But entirely omitting from the list a place that’s on everyone’s list, and tops on many of them, seems deliberately provocative. But we’ll just agree to disagree (unless you want to buy me dinner at Komi so we can sit down together and you can make your case against their inclusion!)”

 Here was my response back to this international eater:

Read More “The Decision to Skip Komi, Citronelle, Etc.: Provocative? Legit? Or Stupid?” »

The recent spate of new burger joints in the D.C. market has inspired the Washingtonian to debut a March Madness-like contest, Burger Brackets, which pits ground-beef sandwich vs. ground beef sandwich until an ultimate winner is crowned. Wanna bet that Ray’s Hell Burger takes top honors?

Regardless of its predictability, Burger Brackets is a great idea. I wish I would have thought of it. Few things rile readers up like a debate over hamburgers. Politics? War? Abortion? Opening presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morn? They all take a backseat to hamburgers. Eaters seem to cling to their favorites like a child to his mom’s apron strings. I have my faves, too, of course, but I mostly subscribe to the motto of Urban Burger’s David Calkins: “Burgers are like pizza and sex: Even bad experiences are pretty damn good.”

Read More “Alert Las Vegas: Washingtonian Debuts Burger Brackets in Time for March Madness” »