Chef Jonathan Seningen

Earlier this week, Y&H did something he hadn’t done in nearly a year: hit the gym. Summoning up whatever athlete’s pride I have left, this former cross country runner went 30 minutes on the elliptical without stopping, a solid 2.50 miles. (Don’t figure out the time per mile, I’ll just be embarrassed.)

I then went to Hook and downed a three-course lunch. I didn’t even feel bad about it.

How could I? Despite one glaring technical error, this was a solid lunch, top to bottom, all for $24 for those three courses.  I instantly put Hook and executive chef Jonathan Seningen, former chef de cuisine at Oya, on my watch list for next year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide.

I started with the heirloom tomato gazpacho, a rather unusual take on the cold soup. Seningen’s version doesn’t try for an opaque, uniform texture. The look and texture of his gazpacho, I swear, reminded me of tomato placenta, the gelatinous interior of the summer fruit. It’s not a turn-off, I promise. It looks light, even refreshing. The orange-colored liquid is dappled with lump crab meat, corn kernels, and pine nuts, which provide a crunchy element here or a sweet hit there. The most pleasant spoonfuls, though, were those loaded down with lump meat, whose sweetness seemed to multiple by a factor of 20 when surrounded by that ever-so-acidic soup.

My entree was the rather drab-sounding barramundi with broccoli and soft polenta. I ordered it mostly out of respect for my trip to the gym. I was really eyeballing that fried oyster sandwich. For once, I’m glad my conscience guided my choice. This dish was an unexpected pleasure. The fish’s skin was crisp, its flesh melt-in-your-mouth soft. Its flavor was mild with a light undercurrent of the sea. The fish, however, wasn’t complete without its plating partners. The flavors of all three ingredients — the barramundi, the steamed broccoli (with their final squeezes of lemon, yes?) and the polenta — just locked into place on first bite, as if nature somehow meant for field and stream to join together.

I wouldn’t call the final course of corn crème brûlée disappointing, but it did have a serious technical flaw. Its dusting of sugar was torched to a five-alarm shade of black, providing an unmistakable bitter edge to Heather Chittum’s dessert. It was an unfortunate misstep in the kitchen. The custard itself, part of Chittum’s thematic “Cornucopia” dessert, is a brilliant combination of two different styles of sweet — those plump kernels of summer corn and the traditional sugary custard. The accompanying polenta cookies added little to my semi-enjoyment of the corny custard, although the salted grape tomatoes were an amazing counterpunch to the palate.

All said, that lunch was one helluva way to say goodbye to the summer — and to the calories I just burned on the elliptical.

As a general rule, the Young & Hungry blog is not here to plug every damn product that comes down the pike, but we’ll make an exception for the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs 2009 calendar, which you can purchase for $12 over at WCR’s Web site. It’s a great holiday gift, blah, blah, blah.

The national organization’s mission is “to promote and enhance the education, advancement and connection of women in the culinary industry,” which says way more about the industry, I think, than about WCR. I mean, we’re nearly eight full years into the 21st century, and women still need a specialty group to promote their interests inside the kitchen? The French influence, she is still strong in the restaurant world, oui?

The calendar is D.C.-centric, even though the organization is national. The local chefs, restaurateurs and sommeliers who appear in the calendar include Melanie Parker (Equinox), Ris Lacoste (ris and Rock Creek), Amy Brandwein (Fyve), Barbara Black (Addie’s Restaurant, Black Market Bistro, Black’s Bar & Kitchen, and BlackSalt Fish Market & Restaurant), Beverly Bates (ici Urban Bistro at Sofitel Hotel), Nora Pouillon (Nora), Ruth Gresser (Pizzeria Paradiso), Jamie Leeds (CommonWealth Gastropub and Hank’s Oyster Bar), Heather Chittum (Hook), and Tracy O’Grady (Willow Restaurant). So do some of their recipes.

“The D.C. calendar is the first one that WCR has ever done!” e-mails Rachael Siefert, a publicist for the project. “The idea came from the D.C. chapter of WCR…and WCR is hoping to take it to other cities in the future.”