Mark Furstenberg may be finding it a challenge to sell the world’s best street foods to Washingtonians, but at least he wasn’t hawking hand-held snacks in China during Chairman Mao’s reign. Some Chinese street foods were apparently lost forever under Mao.

This fascinating segment, from Al Jazeera English, doesn’t really explain why the foods were lost, but it does look at contemporary Beijing street foods, which date back centuries. That’s right, centuries. One vendor says his family has been selling street food for “234 years.”

But the wide-ranging segment also looks at the Chinese diet and how it has been affected by the country’s massive economic growth. In short, as China has opened its borders to Western fast-food chains like McDonald’s and KFC, the citizens have opened their mouths and gobbled down the American junk food. Their waist lines, like ours, are suffering from it.

Mark Furstenberg’s vision for his new G Street Food was simple: He wanted to bring some of the world’s greatest street foods to a city that has some of the worst. It’s too bad that Washingtonians don’t seem to appreciate them. Or at least don’t seem to appreciate them as much as Furstenberg and his partners had hoped.

The master baker says that revenues at G Street Food, in the first few weeks of operation, are down at least 40 percent from projections.  It’s enough to cause concern for the owners of the place, the Choi family, who “expected it to do well from the beginning,” Furstenberg tells Y&H.

Read More “Furstenberg Is Forced to Expand Beyond Street Foods” »

For this week’s Young & Hungry column, I spent part of the afternoon with François Haeringer, the 90-year-old owner and founding chef of L’Auberge Chez François, the French country restaurant in Great Falls that can trace its roots back to 1954 in downtown D.C.

In reporting the story, I spoke with Mark Furstenberg, the master baker behind G Street Food, who says he learned about French food, back in the early ’60s, by visiting L’Auberge’s early incarnation, Chez François, which was located approximately where Equinox is today on Connecticut Avenue NW. At the time, the young Furstenberg had never been to France and had never sampled many of the dishes that have become staples on almost every French menu.

But Furstenberg got more than an education in French cooking at Chez François; he also got a taste of the stuffiness that has since become a stereotype of the French. He still recalls the icy reception that would await him every time he walked in the front door at Chez François. It was courtesy of Jacqueline Rodier, who served as hostess at the restaurant until 1966 when she opened her own place, Jacqueline’s, on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Furstenberg remembers Rodier as stunningly beautiful — and stunningly cold. It was the attitude, of course, that was hard for many Americans to swallow in the ’60s.

Read More “The Key to Chez François’ Long Success? Dropping the French Stuffiness.” »

Hey, look, a celebrity chef!

We’re all slaves to celebrity — or at least celebrity chefs. This week’s top item is devoted to a freakish coincidence: I happened to be at G Street Food right when Rick Bayless popped in for a sandwich to go, to take with him for his flight out of town.

How powerful is Bayless’ draw? Powerful enough to knock Select 55 out of the top spot. Here are your faves from the blog this week:

1. Rick Bayless Drops by G Street Food This Morning
2. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
3. Terrible Restaurant Names: We Can’t Live Without (Mocking) Them
4. Secret Fast-Food Menus: Truth or Myth?
5. Barton Seaver to Be Named Esquire’s Chef of the Year, Controversy Ensues
   

Bayless and Furstenberg: Men of the street

Imagine Y&H’s surprise when he stopped by G Street Food, baker Mark Furstenberg’s new operation inspired by international street foods, and saw Rick Bayless casually walk in the door.  As if the celebrity chef lives just across the street, not half way across the country.

Bayless, fresh off his victory on Top Chef Masters, no doubt wanted to chat with Furstenberg about his new project, since the Chicago chef recently launched a similar street-food restaurant in the Windy City. The two toques spoke for awhile; I tried to leave them alone, save for the picture above, but when Bayless finally said he had to go, I button-holed him near the exit.

Read More “Rick Bayless Drops by G Street Food This Morning” »

The First Lady has been the topic of foodie chatter on two fronts this week — first for her stop at Gramercy Tavern on Thursday, followed shortly thereafter with the launch of the “Michelle Melt” at Good Stuff Eatery.

Let’s see what the media had to say on these and other urgent foodie matters:

• Eater has the pics and Obama Foodorama has the insider deets on Michelle Obama’s lunch at Gramercy.
• The AP has the story on Spike Mendelsohn’s healthy new “Michelle Melt,” which categorically did not include any assist from assistant White House chef Sam Kass.
• Michael Birchenall breaks the news that Yannick Cam will soon be back on the dining scene.
• Thrillist has the details on the opening date of Mark Furstenberg’s G Street Food.
• The Washingtonian has learned who will take over the Olives space.
• Yours truly had the news on Taylor Gourmet II’s pending opening.
• Y&H also covered the opening of Eric Ziebold’s latest, Sou’Wester.

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” »

Less than a week after it was cited for 19 violations of D.C. Department of Health codes — ten of them critical violations — Breadline has passed its re-inspection, says Dena Iverson, director of communications for the department. Before it can officially reopen for business, though, the sandwich shop still has to secure a new restaurant license from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

Morell Marean, representative for the private-investor owners who bought Breadline from founder Mark Furstenberg in 2005, hopes to have the license in hand by tomorrow, which would allow Breadline to reopen for business on the same day.

“The Breadline has passed its health department inspection, and we’re looking forward to opening soon,” Marean says.

Read More “Breadline Has Passed Its Reinspection, Could Reopen By Tomorrow” »

What a week! We here at Y&H Central started it off with a bang — or more like the pop of a bottle top. We introduced the Lagerheads, who immediately chimed in with posts on Dogfish Head’s new Sah’tea beer and D.C.’s ultimate suds map. But we also spent a good amount of energy chasing down Spike Mendelsohn and trying to find out the story behind Hollywood East Cafe’s pending move. All of these posts attracted a lot of eyeballs to the blog, for which we are always grateful.

This week’s most read blog items:

1. Spike’s New Pizzeria Is Coming to Cap Hill. But First: Souvlaki!
2. Hollywood East Cafe OUT of the Boulevard. New Mall Location Coming.
3. Furstenberg’s Street Food Restaurant Will Stretch Far Beyond Bread-Based Snacks
4. Andy Shallal’s Eatonville to Symbolically Reunite Hughes and Hurston
5. The Latest from the Streets: The Fojol Bros. and Zola’s Cart
   

Much to Y&H’s surprise and delight, more of you clicked on the item about Mark Furstenberg’s forthcoming street food restaurant than on Obama’s much overhyped (guilty as charged!) visit to Ray’s Hell Burgers. Congratulations on being so damn cool. The top posts of the week:

1. Furstenberg’s Street Food Restaurant Will Stretch Far Beyond Bread-Based Snacks
2. President and VP Waited in Line at Ray’s Just Like Everyone Else
3. Spike Mendelsohn Set to Open Pizzeria in D.C.
4. Everyone’s Squeezing the Juice Out of Obama’s Visit to Ray’s Hell Burgers
5. Obama and Biden Order One “Hell” of a Burger

Photo by Darrow Montgomery