Fast forward... Instead, Farrah Olivia will be reopening in the private dining room at Kora, the restaurant Ouattara co-owns in the Crystal City space that was once home to Roberto Donna's Bebo Trattoria and José Andrés' Oyamel. That's according to a tweet from Ouattara himself:

Due to popular demand, I have decided to reopen Farrah Olivia January 5, 2011 for 4 nights a week in [K]ora's private room.

Get those reservations booked!

Kora chef/co-owner Morou Ouattara has just launched a line of African spices as a nod both to his youth on the Ivory Coast and to his style of modern American cooking, last sampled at Farrah Olivia, which incorporates African ingredients.

Chef Morou, as he is known to his many followers, answered a few e-mail questions from Y&H about the spices, which will be sold under the Unikeats by Morou label and will be available both in jars and in larger bags. The edited Q&A is after the jump.

Why did you decide to launch a line of African spices?

Morou: People have always wondered where the background flavors of my dishes come from, and I have always thought that Africa has a lot more to offer, food trend wise, than what can be seen on the American market.

What spices will be available?

Morou: We will start with spices I used in my dishes at Farrah Olivia: white melon seeds also called egusi, African tail peppers similar to cubebs, alligator peppers, dried okra powder, smoked shrimp and smoked shrimp powder, and cassava couscous known as attiéké in the Ivory coast.

We will also carry our own label of tea and tea spice rubs.

Where will they be available?

Morou: All the spices will be available at Kora restaurant and on www.morou.com. The spices are available right now at Kora and will be online by January 1. The teas will follow two weeks later.

How much are the spices?

Morou: The jar goes from $3.75 to $5.50, depending on the spice and the pouch, from $8.50 to $16.75. [Y&H note: The full price list is below.]

How do you hope people will use the spices?

Morou: I hope people are creative with the spices. Most of the spices are flavor boosters that can be added to almost anything.

Are you including recipes with the packages?

Morou: Recipes will be included in shipped orders, but will also be found on www.morou.com.

Are African spices available anywhere else in the District? What are the spices best used for?

Morou: Some of the spices can be found in ethnic grocery stores in DC. The blends are best use in sauces, stews, and to season meat, poultry and fish.

Price List:

• Ground Smoked Shrimp, 1 oz. jar, $3.75
• Ground Melon Seeds, 1.5 oz. jar, $3.00
• African Black Pepper (Cubeb), 2 oz. jar, $5.50
• African Black Pepper, ground 2 oz. jar, $5.50
• Dried Okra Powder, 1 oz. jar, $3.50
• Kora Spice Mix, 1.5 oz. jar, $4.50
• Smoked Giant Shrimp, 4 oz. bag, $9.50
• Ground Smoked Shrimp, 8 oz. bag, $15.50
• Cassava Coucous, 14 oz. bag, $8.50
• Ground Melon Seeds, 8 oz. bag, $9
• Whole Melon Seeds, 8 oz. bag, $9
• Alligator Pepper, 4 oz. bag, $16.75
• African Black Pepper (Cubeb), 8 oz. bag, $15
• Dried Okra Powder, 6 oz. bag, $12.95
• Kora Spice Mix, 8 oz. bag, $12.75

Yaku will be history by January.

The poor economy keeps putting the squeeze on local restaurants.

The latest to shut their doors (or scheduled to shut their doors) include Vegetate in Shaw, the  CPK on Connecticut Avenue, Yaku in Arlington, D'Acqua on Pennsylvania Avenue, Savory Cafe in Takoma Park, and Enjera Eritrean Restaurant and Bar in Crystal City.

These victims, some of which promise to be back online in the future, follow in a long line of restaurant funerals this year. Check out this sad list:

• Nathans in Georgetown
• Mark and Orlando's near Dupont Circle
• Farrah Olivia in Old Town
• Le Paradou in Penn Quarter
• Hungry Tiger in Tenleytown
• Napa 1015 on H Street NE
• Jackson's Roasting and Carving Company in Arlington
• La Rue 123 in Fairfax
• Locanda on Capitol Hill
• Olives in downtown

And many many more that I don't have the time or inclination to track down. But on the eve of Thanksgiving, I'd like to say thanks to all of these fallen dining spots. Thanks for filling our stomachs over the years, no matter how well (or poorly) you did the task.

Brunch is never my preferred way to sample a chef''s cooking, but I have to say, as far as brunches go, this is a dandy one. It's three courses for $20, and as for the fare...I'd call it Italian by way of Morou and Amadou Ouattara's fertile imaginations.

Or maybe by way of Wolfgang Puck, if you're talking about Kora's take on Spago's famous smoked salmon pizza. The Ouattaras' version is less glam, as you would expect from a place so far removed from El Lay. It's not as dense with slices of salmon, it features no caviar, and its crust isn't as sweet as the honey-drizzled dough Wolfie prefers. Yet all in all, it's a solid pie, though I do think the Kora pizzamaker could stand to leave the rounds in the oven a few seconds longer.

But the dish that really blew me away was something even further removed from Italian cooking. It was the eggplant gazpacho with "tomato pearls," a holdover from Morou Ouattara's previous restaurant, Farrah Olivia. This Spanish import is, in a word, spectacular. I could taste fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, and eggplant, I guess, if I thought about it really hard. But I could taste about a 1,000 other ingredients, too, which made me curious about the recipe.

So I called Morou Ouattara, who graciously agreed to share the recipe for Y&H readers, who can enjoy it at home before summer comes to a close. The tomato pearls may be tricky to make, if only because you have to purchase agar, but I suspect you won't miss that garnish much if you can't find the ingredient. This soup packs plenty of flavor by itself.

The recipe follows the jump.

Kora's Eggplant Gazpacho

6 to 8 People

For the Gazpacho

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 sticks lemongrass

2 lime leaves

2 eggplants, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1/2 gallon water

1/2 sourdough bread, cut and soaked in water

6 tomatoes, chopped

1 medium English cucumbers, peeled and roughly chopped

1 green pepper, peeled and roughly chopped

1 onion peeled and roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

¼ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 sticks lemongrass

3 lime leaves

4 tablespoons chopped basil

4 drops of Tabasco or more if desired

salt to taste

sugar to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Saute onion until translucent. Add eggplant and garlic, sauté for 5 minutes. Add lemongrass, lime leaves, curry powder, and water and cook until eggplant is soft. Remove from heat and let chill. When cold, puree eggplant mixture, soaked bread, chopped cucumber, onion, garlic, peppers, lemongrass, lime leaves, basil and vinegar, a small batch at the time. With motor running, slowly add oil in slow steady stream, then blend until fully incorporated and very smooth. Strain through medium-mesh sieve, pressing on solids to extract all liquid. Discard solids. Season to taste with the salt, Tabasco and sugar. Transfer gazpacho to airtight container and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

For the Tomato Caviar

2 cups of cold oil

1 cup tomato juice

1 sprig rosemary, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

salt and sugar to taste

1 teaspoon agar

***1 teaspoons agar per cup of mixture

Mix the rosemary, garlic and tomato juice and let sit for 30 minutes. Strain chinois. Take ¼ cup of solution and set aside. Whisk agar in the remaining 3/4 cups of solution. Let sit for 10 minutes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to a squeeze bottle and drop in cold oil.

Somehow any piece of breaking news on the local food/restaurant front seems small and insignificant compared to the reports coming out of Mexico: Pig farming will kill us all!

OK, I exaggerate: The swine flu outbreak is merely, according to the World Health Organization, a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern." Capital letters are never good; it's a pronoun just waiting to attach itself to something nasty. WHO also told reporters the virus has pandemic "potential," a word usually filled with so much hope and promise, like when discussing the upside of the 'Skins first-round draft choice. Y&H is officially worried.

• Eating Liberally asks Marion Nestle if we shouldn't be concerned that Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, could be taken over by a massive Chinese company owned by the state, the same folks who brought us so many other tainted food products. After all, EL notes, Mexican officials believe the swine flu may be linked to the "clouds of flies that thrive in the manure lagoons of the Smithfield-owned industrial hog operations in Vera Cruz."

More news following the jump.

• Tom Sietsema at the Post reports that Mark Furstenberg will be opening a new restaurant this summer dedicated to street foods from around the world.
• Morou Ouattara sent out an e-mail yesterday, saying that Farrah Olivia will not be closing on April 29 as previously reported. Balducci's, the current landlord for Ouattara, has "allowed us to remain open while they figure out what is best for all parties concerned, in regards to our current location."
• The FDA warns not to eat those alfalfa sprouts! There's a salmonella outbreak tied to them.
• And perhaps the most important piece of news today: You can't get swine flu from eating pork.

Photo by Olddanb

Morou: Hit him with your best question

Given the apparently precarious nature of our local dining scene, we should all jump at the chance to poke and prod at one of the area's premier chefs, Morou Ouattara, who recently told the Washingtonian's Todd Kliman that he'll be pulling the plug on Farrah Olivia in Old Town on April 29.

And now we have the chance: Ouattara will be hosting today's 11 a.m. edition of Grill Warren at Northern Virginia magazine.

Not that Y&H is asking you to do his work, but here's what I'd want to know, if I got a chance to grill Morou:

• Was Old Town the right market for your brand of modern cooking or was it just the wrong address in Old Town? Or both?
• Does the current economy make it practically impossible to run a true, high-end restaurant?
• How do you feel about working with your brother at the planned new restaurant/bar/lounge in Crystal City? No sibling rivalry?
• Do you think the D.C. market is open right now for another go at Farrah Olivia? Or do you think you should wait to reopen the restaurant when the economy improves?

Following the closing of Roberto Donna's Bebo Trattoria and the impending closure of Yannick Cam's Le Paradou, news has broken of two more shutterings on the local restaurant scene.

• Todd Kliman at the Washingtonian reports this afternoon that Farrah Olivia, chef Morou Ouattara's Old Town outpost of modern American cooking, will be closing its doors on April 29 after failing to negotiate a new lease with the landlord, Balducci's, which is not immune to this closing business either. Kliman notes that Ouattara will be opening a restaurant/bar/lounge in Crystal City this summer and has plans to, eventually, reprise Farrah in downtown D.C.
• The good members of DonRockwell.com inform us that Mark and Orlando's, just off Dupont Circle, will be closing at the end of April, which elicited this response from the board's namesake founder: "This isn't fair."

Y&H wishes these fine restaurateurs good luck in the future. He also thinks we can officially stop saying that D.C. is recession-proof.

Which brings me to Alexandria's "Inaugural Restaurant Week," which debuts right in the middle of the biggest presidential inauguration in decades. The NoVa version of Restaurant Week runs from Jan. 17-25 and like its D.C. cousin, the promotion allows patrons to order a three-course, prix-fixe dinner for $35 (or, in a few cases, a dinner for two for $35).

The question, of course, is why? Why would Alexandria restaurants offer steep discounts when they already have a captive audience?

I think the answer lies in the 25-plus restaurants that have signed up for the promotion. Most are mid-level eateries that couldn't attract a dog's attention without placing meat outside the front door. But the promotion also includes one very good restaurant, Farrah Olivia, that's simply too far off the beaten track to benefit from the high-volume of waddling foot traffic that will hit Old Town later this month.

Still, I have to wonder: Didn't these restaurateurs get the memo? It's gonna be real hard for a lot of folks in Virginia to cross the bridge into D.C. on inauguration day. They're gonna need to eat somewhere, and they can't all dine at Restaurant Eve.