Posts Tagged ‘minibar’
Seeking Nominees for City Paper’s Inaugural D.C. Dish Hall of Fame
The Margherita at 2Amys: Does it make the cut?
Earlier this week, I was noshing on the roast chicken at Palena Cafe, reveling once again in Frank Ruta’s ability to add and coax flavors from this generous, succulent portion of breast, wing, and leg meat. That’s when the thought struck me: This is, hands-down, one of the area’s greatest dishes. It deserves a spot in some sort of local culinary hall of fame.
The roast chicken is an obvious one, but what other dishes would make the cut? I’ve been pondering this and have drafted a number of nominees. The list is, by no means, complete. It needs your suggestions.
Once we get a solid roster of nominees, we’ll put them to a public vote here on the Y&H blog. The top 10 vote getters will go into the City Paper’s inaugural D.C. Dish Hall of Fame. Winners will receive everlasting glory.
The working list of nominees:
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This Week’s Greatest Hits on the Young & Hungry Blog
It’s only fitting José Andrés grabbed the top spot during the week in which he also celebrated his 40th birthday.
But aside from defending their turf from opinionated New Yorkers (you’ll figure out that reference after reading the top post), Y&H readers also proved they have a great interest in beer, particularly how to open one in a pinch — and how to convert the stuff to fuel.
Enlightened and thirsty readers we have here at Y&H Central.
Minibar Would Be the Toughest Reservation in America, if D.C. Were a Foodie Town
The “liquid olives” at the Minibar
Them’s the fighting words of Ben Leventhal.
Leventhal is the Eater.com co-founder who has become a darling of the New York foodie blogosphere by opening the flood gates of information to (and I quote from the Eater site) “rumors, conjecture and opinions, as well as accurately reported factual information. The site may contain errors or inaccuracies. We do not guarantee, and no reliance should be placed upon, the correctness or reliability of Eater’s content…”
So maybe I should take Leventhal’s latest piece for New York magazine’s Grub Street blog with a large grain of Himalayan pink salt. Today, Leventhal published a piece about the five toughest reservations in America, a list that didn’t ring many alarm bells for me until Leventhal included a number of honorable mentions. Among them is José Andrés‘ Minibar, of which Leventhal writes:
José Andrés’s tiny restaurant-within-a-restaurant has just six seats and two seatings a night. Seats open up 30 days in advance, at 10 a.m. If it were located in a more food-focused city, it would easily be the hardest reservation in the country.
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The Decision to Skip Komi, Citronelle, Etc.: Provocative? Legit? Or Stupid?
This morning, I got into a small online argument with a fellow D.C. gastronome (can I just pause here and say that I hate almost all the words used to describe a food lover; they all carry the connotation that you can’t tie your shoes without the help of a sommelier or bus boy) who disagreed with my decision to exclude the local heavy hitters from my Young & Hungry Dining Guide.
Wrote this epicure (again with the gastro-dandy terms) over two separate e-mails:
No Komi? Omitting Citronelle is trendy. Omitting Komi is foolhardy. (And no, I’m not a New Yorker. I think Komi beats Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, which is 3 stars and top ten in the “best in the world” list.)
Having places on your list that are not on Tom’s or Todd’s is what makes it interesting and cool. But entirely omitting from the list a place that’s on everyone’s list, and tops on many of them, seems deliberately provocative. But we’ll just agree to disagree (unless you want to buy me dinner at Komi so we can sit down together and you can make your case against their inclusion!)”
Here was my response back to this international eater:
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Highlights from Last Night’s Spanish ‘Vanguard Cuisine’ Talk
Dufresne, Andrés, and Colman: foaming over Spanish avant-garde cooking
Chefs Wylie Dufresne and José Andrés took to the stage last night at the National Museum of American History and said that, despite all the hype and hero-worship around him, Ferran Adrià is indeed the man responsible for the foams, spherifications, and other elements of modern avant-garde cooking.
Well, I should clarify: Andrés said that, but Dufresne didn’t disagree.
The Adrià coronation was part of an hour-long discussion, presented by the Spain-USA Foundation and hosted by writer Colman Andrews, designed to dissect Spanish “vanguard cuisine” and its influence on U.S. chefs. Despite its academic bent, the discussion had some moments of levity, even insight.
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THINKfoodGROUP’s Rob Wilder Discusses the Minibar’s Future
Judging by all the haters out there (BTW, my wife’s got you in her sights, bettyjoan!), the highlight of Anthony Bourdain’s recent No Reservations episode on D.C. was his visit to Jose Andres‘ minibar inside Cafe Atlantico. And why not? Andres plays the role of mad genius well, and the minibar is his laboratory.
THINKfoodGROUP, the company over the minibar and the rest of Andres’ mini-empire, has been talking about revamping the experimental food theater for a long time. I caught up with TFG’s CEO Rob Wilder this afternoon, and he said that’s still the plan. So where are they at in the process?
They’re still “in the brainstorming stage,” says Wilder. The idea is not only to “to reinvent the minibar to make it a bit larger,” but also “to reinvent the whole experience from when you walk in the door to when you have your last after-dinner drink.” Wilder says the company has been talking about enlarging the 6-seat minibar into something between 18 and 24 seats.
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