Jamie Leeds, the chef/owner of CommonWealth and Hank’s Oyster Bar, has been selected to serve as president of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, a national non-profit whose mission is to promote “the education and advancement of women in the restaurant industry and the betterment of the industry as a whole.”

The post is a two-year commitment that will place a fairly serious burden on Leeds’ time and attention. She will oversee the marketing and membership committees. She will attend quarterly meetings. She will have a say on the organization’s spending and Web site. She will even travel to Chile soon for a sort of culinary fact-finding mission.

“It means a lot of work,” Leeds tells Y&H over the phone this afternoon. “It’s a very challenging, exacting, and very rewarding position.”

How will Leeds manage her three restaurants with such a heavy commitment over the next two years?

Read More “Jamie Leeds to Serve as Next President of National Culinary Organization” »

With this week’s opening of Masa 14, the Latin-Asian fusion restaurant owned jointly by Richard Sandoval and Kaz Okochi, Y&H naturally turned his attention to CommonWealth.

Why? Because neither Okochi (Kaz Sushi Bistro) nor Sandoval (Zengo and too many other places to name) are handling the daily kitchen chores at Masa. They’ve left that to former CommonWealth chef de cuisine, Antonio Burrell.

So where does that leave CommonWealth, Jamie Leeds’Columbia Heights gastropub that was a top 50 performer in this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide? It leaves the place looking toward Europe.

Read More “CommonWealth Casts an Eye to the Continent” »

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.

Jamie Leeds, the chef behind the casual seaside comforts of Hank’s Oyster Bar, seems to have no interest in joining D.C.’s fine-dining ranks so that she can, one day, find her name among the short list of Beard Award nominees. Nope, Leeds strikes a more populist pose, which is undoubtedly why she gave her latest project, CommonWealth in Columbia Heights, this deft little descriptor: The People’s GastroPub. Like Hank’s, CommonWealth is a neighborhood hangout, a place so bound up in concrete and human congestion that it virtually demands that you walk, not drive, to it. You could argue that Leeds’ brand of populism precludes patrons who can’t afford $14 for fish and chips or $15 for bangers and mash, but you could also argue that cheaper ingredients would only move CommonWealth toward Logan Tavern–level mediocrity, just with better beer.

 CommonWealth, 1400 Irving St. NW, (202) 265-1400

Jamie Leeds, the chef behind the casual seaside comforts of Hank’s Oyster Bar, seems constitutionally incapable of opening a generic New American restaurant designed for K Streeters who pull up in their E-Class Coupe or 911 Carrera and toss their keys to some valet working for handouts. No, Leeds has a populist streak as wide as the English Channel, which is undoubtedly why she gave her latest project, CommonWealth in Columbia Heights, this deft little descriptor: “the People’s GastroPub.” Like Hank’s, CommonWealth is a neighborhood hangout, a place so bound up in concrete and human congestion that it virtually demands that you walk, not drive, to it. You could argue that Leeds’ brand of populism precludes patrons who can’t afford $14 for fish and chips or $15 for bangers and mash, but I’d argue those prices are almost a steal compared to the quality of food found on the plate, not only with ingredients but also with kitchen skill. The nicely browned bangers are genuine Cumberland sausages, coiled and stuffed with rough-cut pork. The beer-battered fish is so lightly and uniformly fried that you’d swear it was the fish’s natural skin. The butcher plate features some of the finest offal in town, though I do wish Leeds would default back to her original recipe for head cheese, which was this rich, aromatic square of jellied pig’s head meat. The beer, I’ll grant you, is indeed pricey, upward of $8 a pint, but the list leans heavily on English imports—ales, stouts, and lagers—supplemented with a few brands brewed in America’s own commonwealth states. Compared to some other “neighborhood” restaurants in the District, CommonWealth, I’d say, is one rare haunt: It’s not only neighborly, but downright ambitious and cool.

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.

Read More “Screw the Boys’ Club Mentality at Restaurants. Buy a WCR Calendar.” »