Whether you believe it or not, I'm pretty sentimental about the things I care about.  Glory still makes me weep every time I watch that scene on the beach. This little guy will forever own a piece of my heart. And around this time of year, I begin to mourn the loss of good, fresh-from-the-vine heirloom tomatoes.

Not that there's an immediate need for grief counseling:  Fresh tomatoes, for example, will be available at FRESHFARM Markets until the third or fourth week of September (perhaps even longer given how the freakishly hot weather has affected plants this season). And just as tantalizing, chef Robert Weland will be offering his all-tomato 20 Bites tasting menu through September at Poste Moderne Brasserie. This week's Young & Hungry column, due out tomorrow, is all about Weland's extensive take on the tomato.

As a small tease for the column, take a look at one of Weland's opening courses, something he calls a "crudite" of garden tomatoes. I prefer to call it my own tomato garden right at the table. Darrow Montgomery's gorgeous photo is after the jump.

Photos by Darrow Montgomery

Earlier this month, the folks at Kimpton Hotels announced they would close Poste Moderne Brasserie for 12 days to give the eight-year-old restaurant a facelift. Y&H spent an hour on Friday afternoon reviewing some of the changes with Poste chef, Robert Weland.

Workers were still deep into the renovation process. The dining room and lounge had taken on a slightly more somber tone after crews had painted the walls, doors, and trim in shades of gray. (Paint nerd alert: The colors are "Kingsport gray," "Ashley gray," and "Crownsville gray.")

But there was still much left to do. Take a look in pictures:

Weland is awaiting the photos of plants and herbs that will be inserted into the square frames that, well, frame the chef's open kitchen.

The only setback that crews encountered was at the bar. The new granite countertop is heavy, so workers need to reinforce the bar before sliding it  into place. 

Weland says the atrium room, which leads to Poste's popular summertime patio, is getting an insulation upgrade to help prevent the space from overheating in the summer and turning into a freezer in winter.

The side room at Poste just received a new ceiling. The old one apparently was dirty, which made me wonder what the diners at Poste were doing in the room. He suggested it wasn't anything unusual. 

The dishes and wine bottles will be history when Poste reopens on Saturday, Feb. 27. They will be replaced with agrarian tools and stuff like that. Y&H suggested to Weland that Kimpton put a snow shovel in there.

The wood floors will be the last thing that crews touch before Poste reopens. They plan to refinish and stain the existing boards. 

Weland shows off the touches of gray at the freshly painted brasserie.

It's out with the old at Poste Moderne Brasserie

UPDATE: 12:00 p.m. Friday

Poste Moderne Brasserie, chef Robert Weland's outpost of contemporary American cooking, will close on Monday for renovations to the main dining room and lounge. The first phase of the plan calls for the restaurant to remain shuttered for 12 days while crews tackle the more disruptive work, from redoing the floors to replacing the bar tops.

Poste will then reopen on Saturday, Feb. 27, as the second stage of the renovation plan continues in the off hours. Crews will use these periods to install new furniture, lighting fixtures (indoor and outdoor), artwork and photography, and carpet. The renovations should be finished by this summer.

The move is designed to align Poste closer to Weland's philosophy of seasonal, sustainable cooking.

"The restaurant has been open for 8 years now, and we thought it was time for a little refresh," e-mails Kimpton spokeswoman Charissa Benjamin. "Kimpton felt it was important for us to reinvest in the business and to keep it looking fresh and current. The look and feel of the restaurant will reflect Rob's eco-friendly and sustainable mission. Lots of warm undertones, green hues, recycled glass lighting, etc."

Even the renovation process itself is aiming for earth friendly. According to a press release: "New floor boards will not be installed, but rather the restaurant has opted for the more waste-reducing and cost-effective alternative of refinishing and staining the existing floor boards."

Of course that only goes so far. The very next item in the release notes that "All countertops in both the bar and Atrium (lounge) areas will be replaced with new granite."

The San Francisco-based Puccini Group is leading the redesign and, in its Poste remodel plan, the group is dropping a bunch of Cali, sunshine-and-pinot-scented words to describe the project:

 The entry experience at Poste is fresh and enchanting as guests walk through the atrium. The new concept is a modern Orangerie, a lush, soothing environment with a color palette inspired by spring’s new growth. The furniture is a collection of rich handcrafted reclaimed woods, alongside English garden furniture, designed for lazy afternoons in the sunshine. Overall, the radiant color palette is invigorating to the senses. As day turns to night, glowing lights cast their rays upon guests who rest their stems and enjoy the company of their companions.

The color palette continues through the dining room with the organic wood-grain inspired plush carpets and the new booth upholstery in crisp greens and earthy tones. The large expo kitchen feature is adorned with artfully photographed fresh produce, embellished with filters to accentuate the natural colors. The images further reinforce Poste’s commitment to sustainability and use of local products, as they are photographed in the Poste Restaurant garden.

I suspect Puccini means "orangery." Regardless, I'm sure Team Kimpton will make sure the new Poste speaks a language far closer to Weland's, which is not flowery at all, but tough and modern and sustainable and cool.

Weland and Kimpton, by the way, plan to use the unplanned vacation wisely.

"Rob and his team plan on using the down time (during the closure) as an opportunity to re-train staff on service, wine, food, etc.," Benjamin notes in an e-mail. "Emily Wines, she's the Master Sommelier and Director of Wines for Kimpton (yes that's her real last name) will be in town during the closure and will work on full seminars and wine training for all the staff. I guess it'll be like summer (or snow) camp."

The rest of the non-profits around the metro area — you know, the ones that don't have their hand in Haitian earthquake relief — must feel like the location scout for Avatar. Really damn underappreciated.

But in this economy, many non-profits are getting hit with a double whammy: The need for their services has increased, while their donations have stagnated, if not dropped. That's in part why José Andrés, Joan Nathan, and Alice Waters have teamed up to host this weekend's Sunday  Night Suppers and Sunday Night Sips. (Tickets are available here.)

These intimate, celebrity-chef fundraisers are actually a reprise from last year's Art. Food. Hope. dinners, which were tied to the inauguration. A year ago, the meals raised more than $100,000 for D.C. Central Kitchen and Martha's Table.

D.C.-based cookbook author Nathan explains this year's expanded focus to Y&H:

Alice [Waters] was looking for a way to bring the issues of sustainability, hunger, and nutrition to the fore during the Inauguration. She asked me which local non profits would benefit from this. And we decided to have these dinners at people's homes to benefit Martha's Table and DC Central Kitchen. They were such a success that we decided to repeat them this year with an increased emphasis on hunger. We also added Sunday Sips, a cocktail party so that younger people who are interested in these issues could contribute ($125) and also meet many like minded individuals while eating and great food and wine.

It's a good thing that the organizers added the Sunday Night Sips. Because even at $500 a head, the Sunday Night Dinners are almost sold out. As of this morning, there were only 10 seats left.

It's easy to understand why the dinners are popular: Just check out the list of participating chefs below. Now imagine one (or more) of them cooking for you at someone's home in D.C. Lots of people would shell out good money for that, even if it weren't tied to charity.

The Sips event is a little less pricey at $125 per person, and its focus is on youth. Here's a description of the event and its participants:

"Sunday Night Sips.” There you can sample canapes created by a number of rising chefs: Will Artley of Evening Star Cafe, Heather Chittum of Hook, Mike Colletti of We The Pizza, Brian Lacayo and Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery, Allison Sosna from D.C. Central Kitchen, and Esquire magazine’s “Chef of the Year” Barton Seaver of Blue Ridge. Graduates of DC Central Kitchen’s job training program will be doing the serving, along with other volunteers. And there’s a screening of a Lori Silverbush film, Hungry in America. 

You can order your tickets to Sunday Night Sips here.

The list of participating chefs for the Sunday Night Suppers:

• Julian Medina (Toloache) and Kaz Okochi (Kaz Sushi Bistro)
• Alice Waters (Chez Panisse) and Jean Pierre
• Elisabeth Bourgeois (Le Mas Tourteron in Gorde, France ) and Robert Weland (Poste)
• Todd Gray (Equinox) and Cesare Lanfranconi (Spezie)
• Michel Richard (Citronelle and Central)
• Gabriel Kreuther (The Modern in New York)
• Nicholas Stefanelli (Bibiana)
• John Cochran and Sidra Forman (formerly of Rupperts) with Joan Nathan (cookbook author) and Bill Yosses (pastry chef from the White House)
• Charles Phan (The Slanted Door) and Lien Lo
• Michel Nischan and Nora Pouillon (Restaurant Nora)
• Brian McBride (Blue Duck Tavern) and Ariane Daguin (D'Artagnan)
• Katsuya Fukushima (THINKfoodGROUP)
• Cathal Armstrong (Restaurant Eve)
• Jeffrey Buben (Bistro Bis) and R.J. Cooper (Vidalia).

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.

Some restaurants like to brag about their eco-friendly ways—I mean, seriously, half of Hook’s appeal has been its sustainability come-on—but some restaurants just are eco-friendly. OK, sure, Poste Moderne Brasserie has gotten a few press notices about its organic and sustainable garden in its courtyard, from which chef Robert Weland will pluck vegetables and herbs for his dishes. But did you know that Poste uses 100 percent recycled paper? Or that it composts all its food scraps? Or that it eliminated all bottled water in favor of its own filtration system? Yeah, I know, none of that means Weland’s food is worth a damn, but here’s the thing: It is. The discipline that Weland injects into his environmental efforts is the same discipline he injects into his kitchen. His dishes are among the most consistent in the area, from his superb terrines to his handmade pastas to his rotating selection of seasonal fish entrées, including his most recent, a wild Alaskan king salmon with parsley sabayon, salmon caviar, and spring onions.

Addendum: Y&H goes whole hog at Poste's courtyard pig roast.

 Poste Moderne Brasserie, 555 8th St. NW, inside Hotel Monaco, (202) 783-6060

Chef-turned-food-writer David Hagedorn gathered 12 of his closest friends — or the dozen of us who could eat and drink late into the night on a Wednesday — for pig roast on the patio at Poste Moderne Brasserie yesterday. Y&H was among the group that crowded around the outdoor chef's table, itself tucked away among chef Robert Weland's wonderland of herb and tomato plants, and waited on our bronzed suckling pig to arrive on a giant platter surrounded by grilled stone fruits and the fang-dripping expectations of the gathered carnivores.

When the pig finally landed on the table, with the sort of ceremony that I imagined surrounded a Roman feast, most of us had already downed a cocktail and/or several glasses of viognier or rose, which had more than primed us for pig meat. We had plenty of pork flesh to choose from.

But before the sacrificial pig made it to our corner of the patio, Weland's kitchen had soaked the young porker in a combination of soy honey, cardamom, and ginger, and injected some of the same mixture under the animal's thick skin.  He purposely limited the pig's exposure to the flavoring agents, so as not to overwhelm the natural flavor of the pork meat. Weland also opted not to salt cure the skin, lest the pig lose moisture from the process and dry out while roasting over the open, hickory-fueled pit in the middle of Poste's courtyard.

Perhaps as a result, the skin on our suckling pig had a chewy, almost leathery texture, not unpleasant but not the crisp crackle that I had been expecting. I related this to Weland, who expressed some dismay and humbly admitted that the "Poste Roasts" are still in the experimental phase. "It's sort of a learning process each time we do this," Weland told Y&H.

The best part of the meal, for me, was the chance to literally do some nose-to-tail eating — and, for once, not just read about this resourceful use of animal products. During the course of the meal, I sampled ham, loin, shoulder, and pork skin, but thanks to Stefano Frigerio, the former Mio chef who now sells his own jams and sauces, I got to try so much more.  Frigerio secured a good knife from the kitchen and started breaking down the pig's head.

Before I knew it, I was trying pig cheeks (fatty and still gooey with connective tissue), tongue (dense and livery), and even brains, which Frigerio had spread onto a crusty piece of bread as if it were pate. (The gray matter was indeed creamy, but also surprisingly livery.)

I told Weland about our head games, and he was delighted. "That's very cool," he says. "That's true nose-to-tail eating." He said that, in the future, the kitchen would serve the offal meats from the skull, should any Poste Roast diners want to take up the gustatory challenge.

The roasts are offered daily at Poste (except Thursday), and you don't have to go the pig route. Weland's team will also roast locally sourced duck, goat, brisket, lamb, squab, salmon or poussin as well. It's a helluva deal at $27 a person (not including drinks, dessert, etc.)

It's even more of an adventure for those who want to go beyond the standard animal cuts.