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” »

Bibiana has hired Douglas Hernandez, pastry chef at Central Michel Richard, to handle the desserts at the forthcoming downtown osteria/enoteca from Ashok Bajaj. Bibiana will have its “soft” opening on Monday, Sept. 7.

Hernandez has been with Central for more than two years, says Mel Davis, spokesperson for the celebrity chef. At Central, Hernandez has been in charge of executing Richard’s justly famous dessert menu, whether his clever, crunchy take on the Kit Kat bar or the chef’s luxe version of a banana split.

Read More “Bibiana Hires Central’s Pastry Chef Hernandez” »

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.

I absolutely refuse to feel ashamed that D.C.’s best taqueria is run by a Harvard-grad gringa with a James Beard Award to her credit. Hell, if that were the case, I’d also have to feel bad that one of the District’s best hamburgers is produced by a Frenchman (Michel Richard at Central). The truth is, Ann Cashion is a student of la cocina mexicana, and her tiny takeout behind Johnny’s Half Shell proves she has deep respect for a cuisine too often bastardized for an easy buck. (You listening, you Salvadoran-Mexican joints?) I’m still trying to figure out how her corn tortillas taste so fresh when they’re not even made in house.

Taqueria Nacional, 400 N. Capitol St. NW, (202) 737-7070

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Bill O’Reilly is all worked up about former President Clinton’s hypocrisy on healthy eating. I’d argue that food hypocrisy is just a natural part of the human experience: We know we should eat better, but we can’t keep our needy little paws off those burgers and fries. Far less forgivable is Clinton’s choice of patty providers: Z Burger.

Please allow Y&H to provide a plan of attack the next time you, Mr. Clinton, have a jones for a burger, fries, and shake: Stop at Central Michel Richard for the celebrity chef’s excellent burger and fries, then hop into the motorcade and go to Good Stuff Eatery for one of Spike Mendelsohn’s amazing, custard-based shakes, which you can treat as dessert.

Allow me to tell you about some of the restaurants that didn’t make this year’s Young & Hungry guide to the 50 Best Restaurants in D.C. Michel Richard Citronelle, for one. Komi didn’t, either, no matter how many times some New Yorker wants to tell me what a genius Johnny Monis is. I sent other sacred cows to slaughter, too: Palena, Restaurant Eve, Minibar at Café Atlantico, CityZen, 2Amys, Inn at Little Washington,  and Central didn’t make my final cut. You want more? Buh-bye, CityZen and Ray’s Hell Burger.

Trust me, I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m just trying to be realistic. Do you really need me—or anyone else for that matter—to tell you to eat at these places? I might as well tell you to wear clothes when you go outside.

Photograph of Palena’s Frank Ruta by Darrow Montgomery

As you might have guessed, traffic to Y&H spiked tremendously this week on the news that celebrity chef Michel Richard had plans to move his base to the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner. No other post this week had nearly as much traffic, despite the fact that Thursday was Food Day here at the paper.

1. Michel Richard Plans to Move His Home Base to Tysons Corner
2. Pepsi Throwback: Right Back Where We Started
3. The University of Florida Arrives, Dines, and Dashes
4. Watch the Deleted Eamonn’s Segment from Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ Show on D.C.
5. If Not Expansion Plans, What Is Ben’s Next Move? Think Shipping.
   

After all the is-he-or-isn’t-he Michel Richard news, the baguette competition, and Food Day, Y&H has barely had a moment to pet his wife and kiss his dog. Or is that vice versa? Whatever, it’s time to play catch up on some of the news and opinion floating out there.

• Prince of Petworth sort of, kind of reports that Radius at the Ohio is on hold, which adds another chapter to the troubled history of the H Street NE location.
• Fritz Hahn over at Going Out Gurus says that Adam Bernbach, the mixologist behind our 2008 Best Cocktail Menu at Bar Pilar, will be leaving the 14th Street NW operation. But not before a final blow out on May 19.
• Frozen Tropics breaks the news that Derek Brown — this year’s Best Bartender and The Atlantic food channel’s resident distilled muse — has created a line of cocktails for Sova Espresso & Wine Bar. [Also of note in the item, Dan Searing is looking to open his own wine bar, Room 11, in Columbia Heights.]
• Speaking of the Atlantic,  the online food channel has mixed feelings about CityZen. Corby adores it. The chemistry dude: Not so much.
• Capital Spice caught Food Day fever and blogged their own “average” eating experiences. (They also stole my Facebook profile!)
• DCist was the first to announce that organic grocer Ellwood Thompson’s is putting its D.C. project on hold. The company still has a lease with DCUSA but can’t afford to build the store in Columbia Heights.

Richard: NoVa bound

Note: This story was updated on 4:36 p.m. Monday.

The rumors appear to be true: Michel Richard, the city’s most celebrated chef, will shift his “home” base to the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner, where he will open a new, fine-dining restaurant in the former Maestro space. It’s not clear yet what the move could mean for Citronelle, Richard’s current home at the Latham Hotel and one of D.C.’s most-honored restaurants, and whether the chef would abandon the spot completely.

Michel Richard Restaurants mailed a packet of information to potential investors last week, seeking nearly $2 million to develop the 5,000-square-foot, 110-seat restaurant inside the Ritz. The celebrity chef, according to the document,  “plans to enter into a 10-year primary lease on or about April 30, 2009″ for the dining space made famous by chef Fabio Trabocchi, who left Maestro in September 2007. The restaurant has been dark since then.

“Citronelle is not closing…Michel’s offices are still there, his kitchen that he loves is still there, and business is going on as usual,” says Mel Davis, PR coordinator for Richard. “I have to reiterate, there are no plans to move or close Citronelle from the Latham hotel.”

Mark Sherwin, general manager for the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner, emphasized that no contract has been signed for the Maestro space. “We continue to talk to a number of high-profile chefs,” Sherwin said. The Ritz has narrowed the list down to three different groups, the GM added, but Sherwin wasn’t at liberty to name any of them.

Read More “Michel Richard Plans to Move His Home Base to Tysons Corner” »

The biggest news of the day has been the sommelier shuffle in which Mark Slater, the 12-year veteran at Citronelle, has left Michel Richard’s venerable four-star restaurant in favor of Michael Landrum’s populist meat emporium, Ray’s the Steaks. Former 2941 sommelier Kathryn Morgan has taken over Slater’s old job at Citronelle.

Slater’s move, of course, is the real curiosity. He’ll go from a temple of haute gastronomy with a French-heavy wine list that’s dotted with such bottles as a three-liter 1986 Lafite-Rothschild ($5,600) to a steakhouse with a list that prides itself on selling good wine under $50 a bottle.

Read More “Slater to “Subvert” the Way Wine Programs Work While at Ray’s” »

Saturday was a vacation for me. I ate at home. Carrie and I made dinner for friends. She made a tomato tartare, based on the recipe from Michel Richard’s cookbook, Happy in the Kitchen, and I made osso buco with risotto alla Milanese, based on recipes by Mario Batali and Mark Bittman.

The tomato tartare, with its shallot dressing, performs a classic Richard trick: It fools the eye into believing the dish is something that it’s not, beef tartare in this case. (The photo above doesn’t do justice to Carrie’s dish; her initial presentation was gorgeous, but we were so eager to dip into it that we forgot to snap pics until four or five bites in. Did I mention wine was involved at this point?) The appetizer does share one thing in common with its meaty cousin, though: It goes down so damn easy.

I bought the osso buco from Wagshal’s Market, and they were beautiful, two-inch center-cut chops that even I couldn’t screw up that much. Photo after the jump.

Read More “Weekend Food Porn: Tomato Tartare and Osso Buco” »