Michael Landrum gobbles up more kitchen talent

It didn’t take Frank Morales long to land on his feet. Just weeks after parting ways with Jackie Greenbaum and her industrial go-go/modern American eatery, Jackie’s in Silver Spring, Morales found a new gig. It’s our lead item in this edition of Food News You Can Use:

• Michael Landrum hires Morales to be director of culinary operations over all his Ray’s themed restaurants. (GoG)  
• The Columbia Heights farmers market — excuse me, Columbia Heights Community Marketplace — will launch on June 5. (PoP)
• Egads! More cupcake competitions. (Washingtonian)

Read More “Food News You Can Use: Where in the World Is Frank Morales?” »

The Maryland fried chicken at Crisfield Seafood Restaurant in Silver Spring

One of the online menus I found for Tommy Marcos’ Ledo Restaurant noted that the Adelphi institution serves “Authentic Maryland Fried Chicken.” I called to confirm that the place still offers the dish and was met with…momentary silence.

After a beat or two, the woman on the other end of the line finally said, sure, they could make it for me. The cooks would just need to make a quick run to the Shoppers Warehouse next door to buy chicken.

If I was impressed with Ledo’s willingness to stretch its kitchen — the current menu, after all, does not offer Maryland fried chicken, authentic or otherwise — I was even more impressed with the bird in front of me. It was crispy, salty, moist, and savory. Why it’s not on the full-time menu remains a mystery to me.

I asked our waitress if this version was considered authentic Maryland fried chicken. She checked with the kitchen, which confirmed that it was. I then asked the waitress if she knew the characteristics of authentic Maryland fried chicken. She didn’t have a clue, and by the look on her face, I didn’t have the heart to send her back into the kitchen for more answers.

I was left thinking the Baltimore City Paper must be right on some level: Maryland fried chicken is little more than crispy legs, thighs, and breasts prepared with birds raised in the Free State. It’s sort of our Kentucky Fried Chicken, minus the secret recipe but with fresher birds.

Read More “The Mystery of Maryland Fried Chicken” »

Y&H has already listed his 10 favorite new restaurants for 2009. Now it’s time to start pondering the possibilities for 2010. Here’s a short list of the upcoming restaurants I’m itching to dine in this year.

• Galileo III: Can Roberto Donna overcome his dwindling reputation and poor recent track record to reclaim the heavyweight crown in the former Butterfield 9 space?

Read More “The Restaurants Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You” »

Mmm, dinner is served.

News is breaking faster than Y&H can keep up with it, which means that it’s time to get all HuffPo and do a little link aggregation. Let’s get right to it:

• WaPo’s Tom Sietsema breaks the news about Michael Landrum’s latest projects, Ray’s the Glass, a Personal Wine Bar with Mark Slater (why does this sound like a late-night talk show?), and Ray’s the Game, a burger joint featuring game meats.
• For those who thought the gourmet cupcake craze was an attempt to fetishize our childhood tastes, consider this Washington Business Journal report from Missy Frederick, who tells us that the Cereal Bowl will be opening in Cleveland Park. Yep, it’s a place that peddles Fruity Pebbles, Froot Loops (which the place can’t even spell correctly on its Web site), Lucky Charms and the like.  This better not affect Palena’s ability to expand.

Read More “Food News Roundup: Meat and Cereal Edition” »

The New York Times‘ investigation of the commercial beef industry has consumed much of Y&H’s attention this week. First, I solicited a couple of burger men to give their opinions on the differences between commercial ground beef and gourmet ground beef. Then, I asked those with a less-vested interest in the subject— readers, in other words — for their thoughts.

Y’all had some good thoughts, like Jamie’s:

Read More “Readers Respond to Ground-Beef Gate” »

 Michael Landrum, the man who put the meat into the Ray’s mini-empire, has never been shy about telling the world about the superiority of his beef.  The New York Times‘ investigation of the commercial ground-beef industry gave him another chance to do more of the same.

Landrum responded to three of the four questions posed by Y&H in the wake of the investigation. I asked Landrum — and BGR’s Mark Bucher before him — to try to alleviate public fears by explaining the differences between commercial ground beef and their ground beef.

Y&H: What was your overall impression of the Times‘ piece and what do you think it will mean for ground beef and burger sales in the future?

Landrum: Didn’t see the piece, so I can’t comment on question 1.  Read More “Michael Landrum Makes His Case for Gourmet Burgers in the Face of the Times’ Investigation” »

Y&H does some side work for Askmen.com, but this week he took a break and asked Michael Landrum to step in and recommend a few manly places for the site’s D.C. readership. Obviously, that was too humdrum a task for Landrum. He went ahead and wrote an essay about “how to be a man in a restaurant.” It involves tipping generously. Very generously.

Sample lines from Landrum:  “Tip to the point beyond fear and, like a roller coaster ride, be prepared for an experience more exhilarating and rewarding than you could have previously imagined or hoped for. Do not make the mistake of tipping what you think the person deserves; instead, tip based on the man you want to be — and you will be taken for that man. Remember, though, that the equation works both ways. There are many things that reveal the difference between a man and a punk — and being cheap will always make you a punk.”

You can imagine the shitstorm this has started over at Askmen.com. Let me quote just a few of the comments Landrum’s essay has generated:

Read More “Michael Landrum Pisses Off Askmen Readers with His Strategies on Tipping” »

The evidence of Mark Slater’s move to Ray’s the Steaks can be found all around the host stand at this Arlington steakhouse. Cases of wine are stacked everywhere — on the floor, on chairs, on top of wine cabinets — as if the place should actually be called Ray’s the Glass.  (Capital Spice gets all the credit for that one.)

I’m not very orthodox when it comes to wine pairings, as you might tell from this post. If you can find a good Gewürz that pairs well with steak — good luck with that — then I say knock yourself out. You won’t hear a peep from me. So I was reviewing the damn fine wine menu at Ray’s, trying to find something new (or new to me) that would pair with my ribeye with horseradish cream sauce.

Given those flavors, I figured I’d need a wine big enough to swallow Michael Moore. And the last thing I wanted was another California cab that tastes like someone poured Mexican vanilla into a bucket of fermented blackberry juice. I clearly needed Slater’s help.

Read More “‘Two Left Feet’ for One Big Steak” »

This blog has gone to Hell, and readers are taking Select 55 with it. For Christ’s sake, people, can we get over this Budweiser post, which tops the list for the third straight week?

The most-read items for the week:

1. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
2. Not So Fast: There’s No Deal for a Ray’s Hell Burger in Adams Morgan
3. No Hell Burger for Adams Morgan, but a Ray’s the Steaks for NE
4. Did Vidalia Use “Inferior” Ingredients During Restaurant Week?
5. Drool List: Pizzeria Paradiso at Dupont Circle
   

Adams Morgan may have to wait — as in forever — for a Ray’s Hell Burger, but Northeast D.C. will have to drum their fingers only ’til this fall for the debut of Ray’s the Steaks at East River, says owner Michael Landrum.

When WaPo first announced RTS@ER, it was known as Ray’s the Heat, but Landrum decided to change the name as a sort of official notice to the neighborhood, which restaurateurs have historically neglected like an ugly stepchild. The name-change, Landrum says, is “a signal to that community that they’re getting my A property.”

Read More “No Hell Burger for Adams Morgan, but a Ray’s the Steaks for NE” »