The D.C. Dish Hall of Fame leaderboard remains virtually unchanged after a week of voting, save for the flip-flop of the ninth and tenth place dishes. After a strong surge last week, Horace & Dickie’s  fried whiting moves up a notch into ninth place.

But I have to say, I think the list is still missing some great dishes. Plates like Frank Ruta’s roast chicken and Michel Richard’s lobster burger are nowhere to be seen, meaning they will not, at present, be part of the inaugural class of the D.C. Dish Hall of Fame. A shame that would be, to paraphase a certain elderly sage.

A comment we received this morning, I think, sums up the feelings of a number of voters, who seem to view this contest as an exercise in classism, not a genuine search for D.C.’s finest plates:

like most things in DC, the options show extreme class stratification. I’d love to know the percentage of DC residents who’ve enjoyed the CityZen Parker House Rolls or Komi’s spit roasted goat.

I understand that more people can afford to eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl over CityZen. But I don’t think you should hold that against a great side like Eric Ziebold’s Parker House rolls. It deserves a place among the city’s best as much as the chili half-smoke. Well, almost as much.

So, c’mon, let’s try to put our prole resentments aside and vote for the best, regardless of price.  You can vote here.

The leaderboard:

Read More “D.C. Dish Hall of Fame Leaderboard: Same As It Ever Was” »

The Sou’Wester pork jowl BLT sounded too mouthwatering to pass up, even if we were way past tomato season, but at $7 per sandwich, I had to ask our waiter how large the lunch-time portion was. He indicated that the sammie was small, perhaps the size of my hand, and that depending on my appetite, I might need a side or two to supplement it. I appreciated his frankness.

Turns out that size wasn’t a problem. Flavor was. Texture was. Presentation was. If you had sat that sandwich on a table, without informing me of its place of origin, I would have thought it came from Potbelly or Cosi or maybe even a government cafeteria, not a Mandarin Oriental restaurant under the watchful eye of Eric Ziebold. (Well, I guess the fatty, gelatinous jowl meat immediately places the sandwich under the trendy nose-to-tail banner, and therefore renders it gourmet, but trust me, the meat alone couldn’t save this sucker.)

Read More “A Cold Chill Coming from Sou’Wester” »

Voting is just a couple of weeks old for the inaugural class of the D.C. Dish Hall of Fame, but already a pattern has emerged: Fast foods are dominating the competition.

That’s hardly surprising, of course. On a daily basis, you know that people order about 500 more half smokes at Ben’s Chili Bowl than, say, order Frank Ruta’s roast chicken at Palena Cafe. But just because the odds are stacked against your favorite dish, that’s no excuse to sit back and let the fast foods run away with this.

Start pressing your friends to vote for your favorite dish. The voting doesn’t end until Dec. 11, when we will induct the top 5 into Washington City Paper’s inaugural D.C. Dish Hall of Fame.

Take a look at the current leaders:

Read More “Fast Foods Take the Lead in D.C. Dish Hall of Fame Voting” »

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” »

The way chef/owner Frank Ruta explains it, Palena must clear three separate hurdles before the highly regarded restaurant can expand into the adjacent Magruder’s, which closed down in May.

The first hurdle — an agreement to take over the former grocery — has already been cleared, Ruta says. But the final deal is contingent upon whether Ruta can overcome the other two obstacles: approval to expand his liquor license and some sort of thumbs-up from the District’s zoning commission to add more restaurant frontage space to a Cleveland Park neighborhood already over its limit.

Read More “Palena Hopes to Expand into the Adjacent Magruder’s Space” »

Y&H is thrilled to report that Select 55 has been dethroned — by another beer, Guinness, which celebrated a birthday yesterday.

Let’s raise a glass to Select 55’s long run and to the new king of the Y&H blog.

This week’s most-read posts:

1. Raise a Toast to Guinness’ 250th Anniversary
2. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
3. Joe Englert Offers a REAL Tribute to the Dean of D.C. Liquor Lawyers
4. Two Things Y&H Didn’t Expect to See at Sou’Wester’s Opening Party: Frank Ruta and Dancing
5. Stand in Judgment of Georgetown Chefs!
   

Ruta emerged from Palena’s kitchen, pictured with Maddy Beckwith

So how unique was last night’s opening reception for Sou’Wester? So unique that Frank Ruta showed up. In all the years Y&H has been covering the dining scene in D.C., I’ve never seen the semi-reclusive Palena chef and owner at an industry event. I barely recognized him out of his whites.

“This is only the second time I’ve been to one of these,” Ruta told Y&H.

“Only the second ever?” I asked Ruta, knowing his years on the scene.

“No, this is the second time this year,” he responded.

Ruta’s presence wasn’t the only unusual thing about this dual-themed party, which celebrated both the fifth anniversary of CityZen and the launch of Sou’Wester, the latest project from Eric Ziebold, chef of the City Paper’s reigning Best Restaurant. There was a tattooed DJ spinning rap and funk tunes in the CityZen dining room, one of the most formal spaces in town, where food stations had been set up to pass out samples of Sou’Wester’s menu. That’s right, people were dancing in the CityZen dining room (including Y&H, but it’s best not to think about that). The cognitive dissonance was palpable.

Read More “Two Things Y&H Didn’t Expect to See at Sou’Wester’s Opening Party: Frank Ruta and Dancing” »

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.

The influx of celebrity chefs to D.C. can excite local diners, but it can deflate local chefs, who see these carpetbaggers stealing their customers, their line cooks, maybe even their thunder. Back in 2007, before Eric Ripert or Michael Mina or even Alain Ducasse opened doors here, chef R.J. Cooper at Vidalia was one of the reigning badasses in the kitchen, fresh off his Mid-Atlantic Beard Award, which he split with Frank Ruta at Palena. But if Cooper and/or Vidalia have suffered since these culinary hawks have swooped into town, you wouldn’t know it from eating at this downtown institution. Cooper, in fact, seems to be cooking with a renewed passion since the competition increased. My most recent meal at Vidalia included a number of dishes that blew me away, notably a pigtail croquette with strawberry-rhubarb mostarda and an artistic plate of mix-and-match bites, from raw cubes of hamachi to squares of lime gelee to tiny diced pieces of watermelon to little slivers of jalapeño. Cooper even plated something I had never seen before—a deep-fried blowfish from the lower Chesapeake, commonly known as the “sugar toad.” It tasted a thousand times better than the name would suggest.

 Vidalia, 1990 M St. NW, (202) 659-1990

Ruta: A main reason Murshed likes Cleveland Park

Komi manager and server Basheer Murshed, a long-time D.C. resident, bravely offered his top five foodie neighborhoods to the Urban Turf real estate Web site. There are no real surprises on Murshed’s list, but perhaps a few omissions that say something about the fine-dining leanings of our city.

Murshed likes the offerings found in Bethesda, Arlington, Cleveland Park/Cathedral Heights, U Street, and, of course, Penn Quarter. You can’t argue too much with any of those ‘hoods, all of which have eateries worth backing and promoting. But what about the neighborhoods or areas that don’t cater to fine dining but still have some of the best eats around?

Read More “What Are the Top Five Neighborhoods for Eats?” »

Etrusco deserved a better farewell than its slow, mostly ignored fade into nothingness late last year, and Olga Boikess finally provided it yesterday with a short-but-laudatory blog post for ZagatBuzz. Boikess briefly documents the many incarnations of the Dupont Circle eatery and quotes a number of D.C. culinary dignitaries who give owner Vince MacDonald his due.

Writes Boikess:

In 1980, MacDonald opened Vincenzo, an Italian off Dupont Circle, and “single-handedly reinvented what an Italian restaurant was in DC,” says Peter Pastan, who was inspired to open nearby Obelisk some years later. “It was a revelation, perfect seafood, simple, authentic Italian preparations,” explains Mark Furstenberg (creator of Bread Line and Marvelous Market).

“He had a true passion for making recipes authentically, and true to their origins, and he was equally passionate about finding great ingredients,” explains former White House chef Frank Ruta, who worked for MacDonald before opening Palena. He remembers that Vince would drive to NYC for the high-quality fish he would cook and serve whole, and for other ingredients, including brick oven–baked bread.

Read More “Finally, An Homage to Etrusco, an Early Adopter of Authentic Italian Cooking” »