Author: tango449

Mrs. B’s Recipes–Fried Oreos

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Last weekend I have the pleasure of attended the 16th Annual Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival in Doswell, VA. Taking a break to find lunch I thought my eyes would bug out of my head when I saw the sign for Mrs. B’s Recipes saying Fried Oreos 4 for $5. I’m a sucker for anything Oreo and I had never tried fried Oreos.

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Fried Oreos are amazing! Each Oreo is surrounded by a wonderful cake batter that allows it to warm without melting. On my second day at the show I ordered the Waffle on a Stick. It was truly good and I was halfway finished when I realized I hadn’t taken a picture. Mrs. B’s isn’t a traditional food truck it is more of a kitchen trailer which is easy to spot. They can be found at many summer outdoor events throughout south central Virginia. If you see Mrs. B’s Recipes run don’t walk to the window and get your order in before they are all gone.

James Beard Award Finalists 2016

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The final nominees for the 2016 James Beard Foundation Awards have been named. The awards for top chefs and restaurants will be given out in Chicago on May 2nd. Many links below take you to OpenTable.com so you can make reservations and start enjoying some amazing cuisine. Congratulations to the only nomine from our area Cindy Wolf Chef/Owner Charleston in Baltimore.

Best New Restaurant
Death & Taxes, Raleigh, North Carolina
Launderette, Austin, Texas
Shaya, New Orleans, Louisiana
Staplehouse, Atlanta, Georgia
Wildair, New York, New York

Outstanding Restaurant
Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, Colorado
Highlands Bar & Grill, Birmingham, Alabama
The Spotted Pig, New York, New York

Outstanding Service
Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, New York
Eleven Madison Park, New York, New York
North Pond, Chicago, Illinois
Quince, San Francisco, California
Topolobampo, Chicago, Illinois

Outstanding Wine Program
Canlis, Seattle, Washington
FIG, Charleston, South Carolina
Sepia, Chicago, Illinois

Outstanding Chef
Donald Link, Herbsaint, New Orleans, Louisiana
Michael Solomonov, Zahav, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Michael Tusk, Quince, San Francisco, California
Sean Brock, McCrady’s, Charleston, South Carolina
Suzanne Goin, Lucques, West Hollywood, California

Rising Star of the Year
Alan Sternberg, Cerulean, Indianapolis, Indiana
Alex Bois, High Street on Market, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Daniela Soto-Innes, Cosme, New York, New York
Edward Sura, Perennial Virant, Chicago, Illinois
Grae Nonas, Olamaie, Austin, Texas

Outstanding Pastry Chef
Dahlia Narvarez, Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles, California
Dolester Miles, Highlands Bar and Grill, Birmingham, Alabama
Ghaya Oliveira, Daniel, New York, New York
Jennifer Yee, Lafayette, New York, New York
Maura Kilpatrick, Oleana, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Meg Galus, Boka, Chicago, Illinois
Maura Kilpatrick, Oleana, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Best Chef: Great Lakes
Abraham Conlon, Fat Rice, Chicago, Illinois
Andrew Zimmerman, Sepia, Chicago, Illinois
Curtis Duffy, Grace, Chicago, Illinois
Erling Wu-Bower, Nico Osteria, Chicago, Illinois
Lee Wolen, Boka, Chicago, Illinois

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic
Cindy Wolf, Charleston, Baltimore, Maryland
Eli Kulp, Fork, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Greg Vernick, Vernick Food & Drink, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Rich Landau, Vedge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Best Chef: Midwest
Lenny Russo, Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market, St. Paul, Minnesota
Paul Berglund, The Bachelor Farmer, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Best Chef: New York City
Anita Lo, Annisa
Jonathan Waxman, Barbuto
Marco Canora, Hearth
Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, Carbone

Best Chef: Northeast
Barry Maiden, Hungry Mother, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Karen Akunowicz, Myers + Chang, Boston, Massachusetts
Susan Regis, Shepard, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Best Chef: Northwest
Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton, Ox, Portland, Oregon
Justin Woodward, Castagna, Portland, Oregon
Mike Easton, Il Corvo Pasta, Seattle, Washington
Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi, Joule, Seattle, Washington
Renee Erickson, The Whale Wins, Seattle, Washington

Best Chef: South
Isaac Toups, Toups’ Meatery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Justin Devillier, La Petite Grocery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Slade Rushing, Brennan’s, New Orleans, Louisiana
Vishwesh Bhatt, Snackbar, Oxford, Mississippi

Best Chef: Southeast
Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Memphis, Tennessee
Steven Satterfield, Miller Union, Atlanta, Georgia

Best Chef: Southwest
Alex Seidel, Fruition, Denver, Colorado
Martín Rios, Restaurant Martín, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Steve McHugh, Cured, San Antonio, Texas

Best Chef: West
Corey Lee, Benu, San Francisco, California
Dominique Crenn, Atelier Crenn, San Francisco, California
Jeremy Fox, Rustic Canyon  Wine Bar, Santa Monica, California
Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, Animal, Los Angeles, California
Matthew Accarrino, SPQR, San Francisco, California
Michael Cimarusti, Providence, Los Angeles, California

Tom & Suzie’s NY Bagel Deli Has A New Sandwich

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9110 Devlin Rd #140
Bristow, VA 20136
571-758-3354
http://tsnybd.com/

Bagels | $

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Tom & Suzie’s has begun offering an awesome crab cake bagel sandwich with Boom Boom sauce.

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You can have any combination of the lettuce, tomato, and red onion standard order.

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They use ample lump crab with a nice ratio of regular and panko crumbs for texture and as a binder.

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I like how they have cut the center out of the bagel trimming it down so the bagel doesn’t overwhelm the sandwich. A full bagel with the crab cake would be too much for most people. With the sandwich made to order you have the choice of any fresh bagel.

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The Boom Boom sauce makes the sandwich. Often crab cake is served with traditional Tartar sauce. The Boom Boom sauce is a nice spicy aioli that sets the sandwich apart. They mix Dijon mustard and OLD BAY Seasoning into the crab cake so it comes with a little spice built in. I put all the sauce on my sandwich and came right to the edge of what I like. I recommend asking for the Boom Boom sauce on the side then drizzling it onto the sandwich as you go until you can gauge where it lands on your personal spice tolerance chart. But have some, it’s really is good.

The Inn at Little Washington

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The Inn at Little Washington
309 Middle St.
Washington, VA 22747
(540) 675-3800
https://www.theinnatlittlewashington.com/

American | $$$$

I have been putting this post off for some time only because it is hard to find words to describe a dining experience at The Inn at Little Washington. We had been before on our 10th wedding anniversary and had a memorable time. Our plans to go again 15 years later for our 25th anniversary were delightfully interrupted when our dear friend Terry surprised us with a gift certificate for dinner. There was no waiting for our 25th to roll around, it was time to go again.

The most important thing to know about dinner at the Inn at Little Washington is that everything is perfect. From the reservationist to the valet a culture of excellence fills your visit. The food and service are extraordinary. No detail is over looked and any request is fulfilled by staff as if it were second nature. I am certain that if you asked for shaved buzzard beak instead of freshly grated parmesan the waiter would smile, disappear into the kitchen only to return moments later to say alas, buzzard beak is out of season.

The Inn at Little Washington is a special place for special occasions. It is not inexpensive, and for some it will be the most ever paid for a meal. Figure $475 for dinner and gratuity for 2 people with no drinks. It is worth the price. Ask for a tour of the kitchen. It is beautiful and remarkably well ordered. If you visit in the spring or summer take a walk through the gorgeous gardens day or night.

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Cozy seating with an old world décor helps minimize the noise so you can actually have a conversation at dinner without shouting.

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Cucumber wrapped fresh American Salmon Caviar starter from the chef.

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Wonderful warm bread.

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A Chive Gougere and a Shot of Asparagus Soup.

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Chilled Maine Lobster Salad with Marinated Hawaiian Heart of Palm.

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Sashimi of Yellowtail Dusted with Espelette.

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Carpaccio of Herb-Crusted Baby Lamb Loin with Caesar Salad Ice Cream.

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Chilled Veal Tongue with Pickled Root Vegetables and Horseradish Ice Cream.

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Fricassee of Morels, Potato Gnocchi, and Virginia Country Ham with Asparagus Tips.

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Miniature Filet of Antarctic Sea Bass with Lemon Vodka Sauce and Lilliputian Shrimp-Pork Dumplings.

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Pork and Beans: Hickory Glazed Kurobuta Pork Jowl with Gigante Beans.

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Huckleberry Marinated Squab Breast with a Crispy Potato Galette.

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Veal Shenandoah: Local Prosciutto Wrapped Loin of Veal with Country Ham and Fontina Cheese Ravioli.

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Another view of the Veal Shenandoah.

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Parsley Crusted Loin of Jamison Farm’s Lamb with Spinach and Barley “Risotto.”

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A small palate cleanser.

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A Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp for my wife.

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Silky smooth Chocolate Cake for me.

MOD Pizza Comes to Gainesville

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MOD Pizza
13959 Promenade Commons St.
Gainesville, VA 20155
571-222-2088
http://modpizza.com/locations/gainesville/

Pizza | $

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Seattle based MOD Pizza opened its first Virginia location in Gainesville last month with the second to follow in Ashburn. MOD stands for “made on demand” with a focus on allowing customers to choose from nearly 50 ingredients and toppings or select one of the 9 named combinations from the menu. Founded in Seattle in 2008 the company has begun a strong franchising push and now has 102 open or forthcoming locations nationwide.

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Plenty of seating.

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I chose the Mad Dog with Mozzarella, pepperoni, mild sausage, crumbled meatballs, and MOD red sauce.

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The sausage had a nice light sweet flavor.

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My 4 slice personal pie was ready in just a few minutes and piping hot from the oven. I could see the super thin crust allows the pizza to cook quickly. The pizza was done perfectly with just a hint of char on the ultra-thin edges. The pizza had a great taste driven mostly by the choice of toppings. With thin crust pizza, and especially one as thin as this, it becomes less about the dough and more about it being just a holder for the toppings. Choose wisely!

This is an assembly line process with you selecting the ingredients much like making a sandwich at Subway. After you pay and it goes in the oven they call your name when your pie is ready. As with most new restaurants the décor does little to lessen the noise. I did not hear them call my name and had to go looking for my pizza. The best news is the price, the 6” personal pizza I ordered is $4.87 and a soda for $2.77. Lunch for under $10 is rare.

Chefs Begin Visiting the Bull Run Warrior Retreat

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A special thanks to Chefs Elena M. Clement, CEPC®, AAC®, owner of The Guiding Knife, CW4 (Ret.) Michael L. Wisler also of The Guiding Knife, and military chefs CSC(SW) Matthew P. Susienka, CEC®, Chef to the 38th Vice Chief of Naval Operations, and CS1 Ian Brown, Chef to the Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy for being the first chefs to visit the Bull Run Warrior Retreat as part of the Visiting Chef Program.

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The chefs not only created a great menu they also offered instruction to 3 of the wounded warrior’s family members who asked to help make dinner. The chefs prepared an awesome meal from scratch in our new kitchen with the help of the family honorary sous chefs.

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Chef Elena had everything running smoothly.

Chef Matt is being transferred to Naval Station Great Lakes near Chicago in December. We are so happy he could come to the retreat and prepare a special meal for a wounded warrior and her family before he left. Matt will always be a member of the Serve Our Willing Warriors family and a visiting chef. We can’t wait to have him back some day soon.

Big Green Eggs at the Bull Run Warrior Retreat

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Exciting news at the Bull Run Warrior Retreat this week as we received a donation of 2 medium sized Big Green Eggs. Dizzy Pig BBQ put us in contact with Seasonal Firestyles of Waldorf, MD who donated the eggs to the Visiting Chef Program. I know chefs will love grilling and smoking with the Big Green Eggs. Thanks to Tim Jarek at Seasonal Firestyles and Chris and Joellen at Dizzy Pig for making it happen.

Donuts Come to Bristow

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Almost simultaneously Duck Donuts and Dunkin’ Donuts open in Bristow, VA.

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Duck Donuts, a favorite of Outer Banks goers, opened to long lines in the Bristow Center shopping area at the corner of Linton Hall Rd. and Rt. 28. Known for their fresh made-to-order while you wait donuts, there was no shortage of customers on a Monday afternoon.

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Warm cinnamon sugar donuts are my favorite.

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About 2 miles away Dunkin’ Donuts has opened in the old Caribou Coffee location in the Braemar Village Plaza shopping center at the corner of Linton Hall Rd. and Sudley Manor Dr. No more having to brave the crazy traffic on Rt. 29 to get your fix of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee in the morning.

Good Friends Who Make Great Food

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Radiant, VA

American | Potluck

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We join a group of wonderful friends from the Charlottesville area for lunch or dinner as often as possible. Sometimes we go out, other times we meet at someone’s home. During warmer weather we almost always wind up at Bonny and Steve’s house. Everyone loves to see Bonny’s flower and vegetable gardens. Everybody brings a dish and we share an excellent selection of great fresh fare.

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Fresh tomatoes from the garden.

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Carol brought a Watermelon, Cucumber, Feta, and Basil dish.

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Pat came with a Black Bean & Corn Salad.

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My wife made Roasted Beets marinated in a Mustard Vinaigrette, with Goat Cheese and Toasted Almonds on  bed of Arugula.

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Grilled Zucchini and Yellow Squash.

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Carol made this amazing Vidalia Onion Custard Bread.

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Steve smoked the turkey for about 8 hours.

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The one dish I neglected to photograph was Mary’s Brown Rice and Quinoa seen here on my plate. Mary also brought an assortment of Talenti Gelato for dessert. Including my favorite Sea Salt Caramel.

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Bonny and Steve’s place is teeming with birds so the Flourless Chocolate Cake Cindy and Ed brought was perfect.

Here are some of Bonny’s magnificent flowers.

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DGS Delicatessen Comes to Mosaic

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DGS Delicatessen
2985 District Ave.
Fairfax, VA 22031
703-280-1111
http://www.dgsdelicatessen.com/

Deli | $$

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Red Apron Butchery in Mosaic gets real competition for upscale deli sandwiches from DC’s highly regarded DGS Delicatessen. In the finest tradition of a New York Jewish deli DGS comes to Virginia to offer fantastic sandwiches and desserts. Chef Brian Robinson has everything running smoothly in the kitchen and makes sure the dishes are on par with their reputation. As with all beloved classic dishes like barbecue, sausage gravy, or fried chicken, it’s never going to be a good as grandma made. Jewish deli food is no different. It may not be as good as what you grew up with but I guarantee it’s as good as your going to find in Northern Virginia.

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The cotton flour sack napkins are a nice touch.

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My sandwich was the Half Street made with DGS Pastrami, Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese and Mustard on Double Baked Rye bread. The corned beef and pastrami are cured, brined, and smoked in house. They do their own pickling and make sides and desserts in house. The Half Street allowed me to try the corned beef and pastrami. They both melt in your mouth. The mustard was smooth and mild. The sauerkraut was good and not too sour. The rye was earthy with just a slight caraway flavor.

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For dessert we had killer Cinnamon Donut Holes filled with a Honey and Apple puree and given a slight powdered sugar dusting. They are served warm and are the perfect combination with no one element overpowering.

There is an abundant and growing list of restaurant choices in the Mosaic section of Fairfax with more opening all the time. Don’t overlook DGS for dinner thinking it’s just deli food. Dinner plates include Grilled Salmon, Grilled Ribeye, and Chicken Schnitzel.