Les Dames D’Escoffier held an all-day symposium recently for the first time since the pandemic. One of the workshops focused on Japanese fermentation; specifically, the complex relationships among sake, soy sauce, and koji. There were three styles of sake to taste, and a chance to make our own koji infusion. Remembering how intrigued I was with the koji demonstration at the Sakura Matsuri, I signed up for that workshop.
Although far less familiar in the West, koji has been the foundation of Japanese cuisine for centuries. It’s rice (or another starch) inoculated with the fungus Aspergillus oryzae, and it’s the basic ingredient for soy sauce, sake, miso, rice vinegar and many other products. Now koji has become the trendy plaything of chefs all over the world.
In their book The Noma Guide to Fermentation, René Redzepi and David Zilber describe koji as “indistinguishable from magic.” Now, I admit this reference to Clarke’s Law made me perk right up, and I paid even closer attention to the workshop’s presentations about sake and soy sauce production. Then, we got to make our own koji – or at least, start the process going.
Workshop Sake Setup
Mixing Up The Koji Potion
Carla Hall Was Sitting At My Table!
We added salt, garlic, ginger, and water to the inoculated rice at each of our places. All we had to do after that was take them home, stir them every day for 10 days, and use the resulting ferment as we pleased. The workshop sponsor recommended coating chicken breasts and grilling them. My research resulted in several other possibilities.
I decided to marinate turkey thighs overnight, and then grill them. I used about two-thirds of the contents of my little jar for the marinade. The results were amazing, juicy and delicious, with a subtly altered taste and texture from any previous turkey I’ve had before. I can see using this technique for a Thanksgiving turkey breast and no worries about having it come out dry!
Marinating the Turkey
Ready To Grill
Turkey Plated
I used the remaining koji on a nice piece of white fish for my daughter and myself. I marinated the fish for only a few hours, but the results were still remarkably delicious. My daughter, who lived in Japan for several years, put it perfectly: “This fish tastes like Japan!”
Fish Marinated About Two Hours
Grilled Twenty Minutes, Ready to Eat
She recognized, and appreciated, the characteristic strain of umami the koji had imparted to the fish. There was a little fish left, so I ate it over avocado toast for lunch the next day. Cold, it continued to be just as delectable as freshly roasted.
Leftovers For Lunch
I’m going to be experimenting with this promising new technique for a while. Google tells me that koji-inoculated rice is available to order on the internet, and there is a Japanese grocery store in Rockville. Much umami ahead!
The success of a two-hander play depends on two things: the script (of course), but maybe even more, on the relationship between the two players. When they are of differing sexes, balancing that relationship can be weighted on the side of the masculine. In The Mountaintop, however, the opposite sex has a slight advantage: she’s literally heavenly.
In a set drenched in mid-century verisimilitude, we are immediately confronted with a depiction of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (Ro Boddie) as so human as to have holes in his socks and stinky feet. The play is a fantasy reimagining of his last night on Earth, just before his assassination on the balcony of a shabby hotel room in Memphis. His room service order of coffee and cigarettes is fulfilled by a chambermaid (Renea S. Brown) who is his match in many ways.
Meeting Cute: Ro Boddie (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and Renea S. Brown (Camae) in The Mountaintop at Round House Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman Photography.
What starts out as friendly banter and moderate flirtation develops into philosophical discussion and inspired oratory – but not from the character you would expect! The audience and Dr. King begin to suspect that this chambermaid, Camae, is far more than she seems. And, indeed, she lives up to Dr. King’s accusation of being an “incognegro” by revealing that she is a divine messenger sent to accompany him to the great beyond the next day.
Is he ready to go? Of course not. He has things to do, speeches to give. How can he be sure the work will continue, the baton will be passed? The last minutes of the show transform that beige room into a fantastic sound and light show, with a spoken-word tour-de-force by Camae, herself outfitted in raiment befitting her celestial status.
And Did I Mention the Pillow Fight? Photo by Margot Schulman Photography.
Round House audiences last saw Ro Boddie in Radio Golf, and Renea S. Brown in Nollywood Dreams, both playing second leads. They shine brightly in The Mountaintop, showing off top-notch acting chops. There’s chemistry, both between them and with the audience. They make watching this play a real treat.
And segueing neatly into the treats available at the Fourth Wall Bar and Café, we find a list of cocktails cutely named with references to the play, such as “Lorraine Motel” and “Coffee and Cigarettes.” Unfortunately, there are very few food references in the play to tie the kitchen offerings to, but Corrie’s Egg Sandwich and Rendezvous Ribs give it their best shot. The ribs in particular sound good (“Memphis style pork ribs served with the best baked beans, pickles and white bread”). I can see coming early to a performance to indulge in a plate of ribs.
Lobby Display During Opening Night
Cast and Crew on Opening Night. Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, far left.
What do you think of when you think of Rupert Murdoch? A ruthless businessman who runs a billion-dollar world-wide publishing empire? But did you know he acquired a rundown newspaper in 1969 and turned it into the best-selling tabloid in Britain inside of a year?
Ink, at the Round House, is the story of that process, told with fast-paced plotting, dynamite acting and non-stop projections, which leave us breathless and marveling at the innovations Murdoch (Michael Glenn on the night I saw it) inspires in the staff of the Sun. At the same time, we follow the trajectory of his chief henchman, Larry Lamb (Cody Nickell), as he sheds his inhibitions to wage war against the handed-down traditions of Fleet Street and goes for the lowest moral denominator to sell papers: giveaways, titillation, sensationalism, giant font headlines and knickers in a tin.
The cast of Ink at Round House Theatre Co-produced with Olney Theatre Center
“Give the people what they really want!” is the motto embodied in the three elements that must appear on the front page every day: WIN, FREE, and LOVE. And ultimately, full female nudity on Page Three. What a tizzy that threw the public into! How many papers it sold!
We admire the drive and ingenuity while remembering what that eventually led to: a ruthless influence on the opinions of not just Britain, but the entire world. This play mightily tries to subvert the better angels of our nature as we admire the staff of the Sun’s David-and-Goliath battle against the entrenched papers on the Street.
And, in the course of the play, we are reminded of the ultimate cost of this kind of ruthlessness. Muriel, a staffer’s wife, is mistaken for Murdoch’s wife, kidnapped and held for ransom, but it goes horribly wrong, and her body is never found. “We think they fed her to the pigs.” Larry Lamb, already driven to the edge of civility in his drive to sell papers, falls over it. This is ultimately the story of his descent into moral turpitude. Murdoch, as we all know, sailed on to assail the information industry of America and the world. Today, at age 92, one wonders what he thinks of the play.
Even while confronting the dilemma of thoroughly enjoying a production which asks us to root for the accomplishment of an ultimately unsavory victory, I wholeheartedly recommend seeing Ink. It will delight and provoke you. And the café is featuring a few British-leaning dishes to complement the play. Not, unfortunately, the steak and lobster featured in one of the several dining scenes, but a simulacrum: oven-roasted sweet potatoes, beef stew, and bangers and mash. There is a hard cider selection for the hops-averse, and the cocktails are named “Establishment,” “Tabloid,” and “Page Three Girl.” Titillation indeed!
Cody Nickell as Larry Lamb and Andrew Rein as Rupert Murdoch
Ink is running through September 24th at the Round House Theatre, co-produced by Olney Theatre Center, written by James Graham, directed by Jason Loewith.
The National Book Festival seemed to have a smaller footprint this year than in the past, but that didn’t dissuade the throngs of book-lovers crowding into the Washington Convention Center. I went in search of the few food and cooking-related items on the agenda, and, of course, any other bookish good times there might be.
Sometimes, relevance is where you find it. Amor Towles, mainstream fiction writer, mentioned that among the comments he received from readers was a criticism of his novel’s description of dishwashing by an Award-Winning Member of the Future Homemakers of America. (“You wash the glassware first!”) Well, now I’m more determined than ever to read The Lincoln Highway.
Crosby Kemper, the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Amor Towles
Parade of States
I always enjoy wandering up and down the aisles of the “Roadmap to Reading” area. All the states, territories, and the District of Columbia have sent librarians armed with tchochkas, flyers, and their State Books (one each kids’ and adults’). Two of these books were about regional food. Georgia showed off Bress ‘n’ Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer by Matthew Raiford with Amy Paige Condon, while Connecticut’s table boasted not only the book but the author as well. Winsome Bingham lived up to her name as she described her children’s book, Soul Food Sunday.
The Georgia State Book is a Cookbook
Winsome is as Winsome Writes
There were some choice selfie traps. The National Endowment for the Humanities had set up life-size cutouts of famous dead authors to pose around, and even had a dedicated volunteer to assist in snapping whole families.
Posing with the Literary Greats
And who should I almost bump into but Dolly? Of course, she has a terrific book giveaway program (Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library). And did you know she has written a cookbook? Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food, in 2006. There should be more philanthropists like her.
Well, Hello, You-Know-Who
Random Food Observation
I should also mention that a relatively new addition to the food-for-purchase options at the Convention Center is an outpost of Ben’s Chili Bowl, complete with a mural of the original place on U Street.
Ben’s Branches Out
Incidental Food Agenda
Now, I’m sure that this was just an accident of scheduling, and not deliberate on either party’s part, but the Washington Post food writers’ discussion directly conflicted with the Library of Congress’ author presentation of American Feast: Cookbooks and Cocktails from the Library of Congress, by Zach Klitzman and Susan Reyburn, the newly-released survey of their amazingly comprehensive collection. Fortunately, those events were located very close together in the exhibit hall, and I managed to stay for most of the Post discussion before decamping to the LoC pavilion for the last few minutes of that talk. Afterwards, the authors graciously signed my book and posed for a picture.
Daniela Galarza and Ann Maloney
I appreciated the chance to meet the two Post writers, Ann Maloney and Daniela Galarza. They described how they reorganized the Post food lab, which I had last seen when Bonnie Benwick gave me a tour, back when the Post had just moved into their current building. Galarza has been hard at work on the newsletter, which generates a lively dialog with readers.
Here is some inside dope:
Newspaper food sections, like the fashion industry, have to work in advance of the seasons. As we endured 90-degree temperatures outside the convention center, they were developing recipes for Thanksgiving. And here’s a scoop – look for a recipe for mile-high apple pie in the coming weeks. Also, a Thanksgiving po’boy (to deal with leftovers).
All the photography in the Food section is authentic – shot with real food cooked from the recipe. The only fake props they use are ice cubes. After all, “We’re journalists!” And they seldom have leftovers – after the shoots are done, word goes out to staff on their internal Slack channel, and the food is gone within ten minutes.
Klitzman and Reyburn spoke to the changes in eating habits through time that American Feast illustrated through its pictures and descriptions of books and menus. They were taking questions from the audience when I snuck into the presentation. One questioner asked about the weirdest food they had encountered in their research? It has to be frosted ham from Fannie Farmer’s A New Book of Cookery (a sequel to her famous Boston Cooking School Cookbook). Yes, there it is on page 41, looking unsettlingly like a Shmoo.
On a more serious note, the recipe lists and cookbooks hand-written by prisoners in World War II describe dreams of meals to be eaten upon release from captivity. Sometimes they don’t represent real food, but idealized versions of dishes dreamed about by starving men.
Susan Reyburn and Zach Klitzman in Front of Another Selfie Trap
Because One Actual Festival Session Is Plenty for Food Books
I headed to the one official agenda session, in an actual meeting room, focused on food books. Do I sound a little nostalgic for the good old days when there was a whole track dedicated to food writing? That’s because I am. But I suppose I should be thankful for what I can get.
“Dig In: What Food Says About Us with Cheuk Kwan and Anya von Bremzen” was moderated by Daniela Galarza, from the Post. Kwan’s book, Have You Eaten Yet?, focuses on owners of and workers in Chinese restaurants outside of China, while Anya von Bremzen’s National Dish explores six national cuisines through examples of their iconic dishes.
Cheuk Kwan and Anya von Bremzen with Daniela Galarza
Kwan explored how Chinese food adapted to ingredients and cultural preferences in the many countries in which exiles from various cultural upheavals sought refuge. When food morphs from its original form due to the pressures it encounters, who’s to say what’s authentic? He’s discovered the best Chinese food is to be found as staff meals in restaurants of the diaspora.
When Kwan mentioned that he had his first taste of Hunan cuisine in New York City in the 1970’s, I felt a jolt of recognition. I wonder if we frequented the same restaurant at the same time?
Von Bremzen mentioned the breakup of the USSR, which inspired her to interrogate how national identities are constructed. What is considered authentic cuisine? Authenticity comes from your memory. Adapted dishes, like those of the Chinese diaspora, become part of new nation’s diets, and issues of “cultural appropriation” become moot. You can’t talk about food without politics. Russia and Ukraine both claim borsch as their own.
I wished I had the chance to share a meal with both these authors! Fortunately, I have the next best thing: a copy of each of their books. I will be reading them in the near future, and reviewing them here, along with American Feast. Stay tuned!
Supermarkets are a fount of inspiration for Catillation. Here’s a collection of the weirder movie tie-in products I’ve noticed in Harris Teeter and Giant lately.
Wakanda Forever, Even If It Never Was
I’m a little tardy in posting about the Dozen Cousins products, so they are probably no longer available in HT. As with so many of these tie-ins, they’re ephemeral, cynical cash-grabs, or maybe (if you have an exaggerated sense of the absurd as I suspect I do), the ultimate ironic hipster statements.
White Rice for the Black Panther
There were two products from A Dozen Cousins on offer: “Wakandan Coconut Rice” and “Wakandan Jerk Seasoning” and who’s to say they’re not? I can report on the taste of the Coconut Rice sauce mix only because I found a few packets on the reduced rack a week or so after I took this picture. It was mild to the point of unobtrusiveness.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Petits-Fours
This display wins the prize for most cognitive dissonance in a movie tie-in for this year, hands-down. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem Cake Bites” conjure visions of the Turtles sitting down to tea: cucumber sandwiches (with the crusts cut off), crumpets with clotted cream perhaps, Earl Grey tea (hot), and a lovely assortment of dainty little one-bite iced cake morsels. I could kind of see myself eating one, if I closed my eyes against the green icing, but HT hasn’t reduced them yet.
Green Cake for Ninja Turtles
Ready for Their Close-Up
Here’s a question: can the Mutant Turtles raise their pinkies as they drink their tea? Which segues nicely into:
The Pink Swoozes Into Giant Food
And finally, a Barbie tie-in: a display of “Barbie x Swoon Barbie Pink Lemonade” greets shoppers in the Giant lobby. I’d never heard of this brand of monk fruit-sweetened drink, and I’m already tired of Barbie references (full disclosure: I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’m planning to soon). But there was one can perched pertly on the reduced rack, only slightly dented, so I sprang for it.
You Would Think It Was Pink
But You Would Be Incorrect.
The first thing you notice is that the drink isn’t pink, although the ingredients list includes strawberry juice and “vegetable juice (for color).” It tasted nothing like lemonade, pink or any other color, and had an off-putting chemical aroma, matched by the taste. I wouldn’t willingly drink it again. Maybe monk fruit is an acquired taste? This is one piece of ephemera I won’t miss a bit when it’s gone.
There I was at the Olney Farmers Market, chatting with Tom Farquhar of Sandy Spring Gardens, one of our organic growers, discussing tomatoes. He mentioned a theory of his, about why field-grown tomatoes taste better than those grown in greenhouses or high tunnels. I’d heard it before, but it has more credence coming from a farmer: the stress field-grown tomatoes encounter from changes in temperature, moisture and sunshine combine to make them tastier than those that lead a comparatively pampered life.
He offered me two examples of a variety called Cherokee Carbon to taste-test myself, one field-raised and one from indoors, on the condition that I report the results back to him. Now, I’d be the first to admit that this tiny sample of test subjects (two), and experimenter (one) is highly unscientific. But was I about to refuse two free tomatoes? No, I was not.
The Contenders, with My Field Notes
First, though, a little background. Although I’d long been acquainted with one of the parents of this hybrid heirloom, the Cherokee Purple, the other was new to me. A little googling showed me that I’m not as up on my heirlooms as I thought I was. Carbon is not some brand-new discovery. The Cherokee Carbon is available from a bunch of growers, and comes highly recommended. Here is the description from the Gardens Alive! site:
A cross between two heirlooms, Cherokee Purple and Carbon Tomatoes, Cherokee Carbon Hybrid Tomato is one of the best-flavored tomatoes we’ve tasted. The 10-12 ounce, purple beefsteak fruits have a wonderfully complex flavor. They’re excellent for eating fresh and tomato sandwiches. A 2005 “Heirloom Garden Show” best-tasting tomato award winner, Cherokee Carbon is an early variety that produces high yields of fruits with less cracking and blemishing. The indeterminate plants grow 5-7 feet tall and require staking. 75 to 80 days to maturity.
So they’ve been around since at least 2005. What have I been missing?
The tomatoes Tom gave me could be described as “ugly,” which we cognoscenti know is just a synonym for “much tastier than big, unblemished, bright red fruit.” They were on the small side according to the Gardens Alive! description, weighing in at 4-5 ounces each. They were also dead ripe, begging to be eaten right away, so I got to it.
Each Cut in Half
And in Bite-Size Pieces
I just used a sprinkle of salt over all, and consumed each piece, alternating the test subjects. They were both delicious. I would welcome either one as part of a sandwich, salad or just on its own. But as for which tasted better? At least for these two individual fruits, the field-grown tomato had more complexity of taste, a greater depth of flavor, than the other. You’re right, Tom! Field-grown is the winner!
Mess Hall is not easy to get to by Metro. You get off the train at Rhode Island Avenue and cross the tracks on a graffiti-covered pedestrian bridge, then walk along the Metropolitan Branch Trail, jog left at the brewery, traverse an alley not yet fully converted from its erstwhile industrial life, and end up at a former warehouse with MESS HALL painted in large, friendly letters on its brick wall. The line down the block is the tip-off.
I had been aware of Mess Hall for some time. It’s a communal space for the development of small food businesses. It provides access to an affordable commercial kitchen for startups, ghost kitchens, the development of restaurant concepts, a base for food trucks, and an event space for food and beverage related pop-ups, takeovers, markets, festivals, and parties. Like this one.
This last version of New Kitchens on the Block was the ninth opportunity to try the wares of a slew of emerging eateries all at once. There were samples of food served along with signature cocktails or beer from each. All the food was tasty. While some of the stations were equally balanced with food and drinks, others seemed to put less thought into the liquid portion than the solid.
The spring weather was nice enough for folks to spill out into the alley to eat, drink, and schmooze, which was a good thing, as the inside space was a smidge small for the crowd.
Eating and Waiting in Line
Sitting and Eating Inside
And Outside, Eating and Schmoozing
Here are my admittedly subjective impressions of the food, in no particular order:
San Pancho by David Perez and Carolina McCandless of Cielo Rojo: We’ve had delicious food at Cielo Rojo, a hole-in-the-wall in Takoma Park, when we could get in, so I was delighted to learn that it will be moving to a larger space down the block. San Pancho will replace it in the old space. At NKOTB, two kinds of burrito were on offer: chicken with 30-ingredient mole sauce (impressive), or vegan with house-made tofu chorizo (meh), paired with mezcal and jamaica agua fresca-based margaritas (yum!).
San Pancho Station
The line for San Pancho was much longer than for the two stations flanking it. Both of those happened to feature raw fish. Did this reflect the taste preferences of the audience? Never mind, more fish for me!
One of those fish stations was Two Nine Omakase, offering cured salmon with poi vinaigrette, and a fruity cocktail with District Made vodka. How do you incorporate poi into vinaigrette? Maybe it’s better not to ask! Anyway, it was delicious.
Salmon Ready for Its Closeup
Two Nine Plating
Urai was the third station of this trio, offering scallop crudo garnished with borage flowers. “Borage for courage,” counseled the old herbals, and I nominate Urai for some of the tastiest, as well as prettiest, food. Their cocktail was right on point as well: fruity, and garnished with more edible flowers.
Still the Prettiest!
Photogenic Drinks
Mallard (ham hock), Alfreda (pepperoni balls), Mahal (pork belly) and Elena James (corned beef prime rib with blue cheese!) all offered meaty bites. Also, a Korean BBQ Concept by Kevin Tien. And now I have to admit that my notes failed me. If he revealed the name of his new place at NKOTB, I didn’t catch it. Sorry!
Mahal’s Meaty Station
Elena James Station
Elena James Meaty Plate
But I can reveal the name of Matt Baker’s new venture: it’s Non Se, and he was passing out plates of Chilled Mussel and Shrimp Salad accompanied by Gin and “Chef’d Up” Tonic. At that point, I had reached my alcohol limit, so I can’t render my opinion of the drink, but it did use District Made gin, so it had to be good. The seafood salad, with a piquillo vinaigrette, was a delicious dish to wrap up my tour of the District’s edgiest new eateries.
Chef Matt Baker and His Sous
I’m already looking forward to the next iteration of NKOTB, and to exploring the services of Mess Hall.
The geography of the stage provides a schematic of the moral landscape in August Wilson’s Radio Golf, now playing at Round House Theatre. As the opening action (set in a new real estate development office): at stage left, Harmond Wilks (Jaben Early) hangs a portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. over his desk; stage right, his business partner, Roosevelt Hicks (Ro Boddie), enshrines his hero, Tiger Woods.
Now that the two main characters have staked out positions on opposing ethical compass points, the action of the play presents a series of moral choices embodied by Wilks’ wife, Mame (Renee Elizabeth Wilson), local resident Joseph Barlow (Craig Wallace), and a carpenter, Sterling Johnson (Kevin Mambo).
Ro Boddie (Roosevelt Hicks) and JaBen Early (Harmond Wilks) in August Wilson’s Radio Golf at Round House Theatre. Photo by Margot Schulman Photography
Elder Barlow claims the last house standing in the way of an ambitious urban renewal project which Harmond has worked for years to bring to this Pittsburgh neighborhood. All he needs is the official designation of “blight” to begin demolition. Barlow, however, insists the house’s deed has never been transferred. His position as the presenter of a moral dilemma drives Harmond’s exploration of the somewhat shady dealings involved in the property transfer for the development. Will Barlow accept belated payment to clear up the issue and let demolition go forward? No, he won’t.
Johnson also has a connection to the condemned house, but he is a less-vivid character than Barlow. Although he represents a slightly different angle of argument for preservation, both Barlow and Johnson firmly occupy center stage. Mame Wilks, underutilized as Harmond’s wife, bears some of the consequences of Harmond’s (not yet reified) decision, but ultimately decides to trust him to make the right one.
As for Roosevelt Hicks, his avarice – symbolized by worship of Tiger and all things golf – drives his deals with wealthy White millionaires as the front (“blackface”) for their schemes for Federal tax benefits to buy radio stations, as well as his blinkered version of Harmond’s dilemma. He sees no advantage in allowing that historic house to stand.
Now, which will be the greater good: new housing, a Whole Foods Market and Barnes and Noble (oh, pangs of nostalgia for when a bookstore was a name to conjure with!), or the preservation of a rundown but fundamentally sound old house? Seemingly-eternal questions of gentrification vs. preservation are not going to be settled by a two-hour play, but I guarantee you will be both entertained and provoked to thought by this excellently written and acted production.
Cast and Crew Pose for a Group Picture
Round House has once again developed a cafe menu tailored for this production. There are only a few direct mentions of food in Radio Golf, but the food and beverage manager, Frank Manganello, has made the most of them. An ode by one character to fried chicken has been transformed to BBQ Chicken Pierogi. Another, to bread pudding, has been transformed to (ahem) Bread Pudding.
On the beverage side, Mr. Manganello has sourced two wines from the McBride Sisters Winery. Robin and Andréa McBride had been raised apart, one in California and one in New Zealand, but decided to start a winery when reunited. They now run the largest Black-owned wine company in the United States.
And just for Opening Night, a surprise: the boring old dessert buffet was replaced by a Cookie Table! For this venerable Pittsburgh tradition, the dessert table at weddings and other festive events is supplied by celebrants bringing a variety of cookies. In Round House’s case, 35 varieties of cookie, 900 in all, were baked to order by Sunflower Bakery in Rockville. They train young adults and teens with learning differences in pastry arts, hospitality and related industries, and judging by these cookies, do an excellent job.
Nine Hundred Cookies
One of Everything!
Just a Few in Close-Up
I named sugar cookies, macaroons, brownies, blondies, chocolate chip (of course), jam thumbprints, rugalach, raspberry crumb bars, and others equally decadent and delicious. Gift bags were thoughtfully provided to take home (you can only eat so many cookies at once, after all!)
Radio Golf by August Wilson is playing at Round House Theatre through July 2, 2023.
And now I’m sorry I used “Anticipation” in the headline for my last post, because this Saturday’s event at Mess Hall in DC levels-up the feeling by about an order of magnitude!
New Kitchens on the Block will be an opportunity to get a taste of emerging restaurant concepts by some very successful chefs. It’s the ninth edition, and each iteration has had a new lineup. Here is this one’s:
A To-Be-Named Mediterranean Concept by Matt Baker (Gravitas, Michele’s) Mahal Afro-Filipino BBQ by Jerome Grant (Sweet Home Café, Dacha Restaurant Group) San Pancho by David Perez and Carolina McCandless (Cielo Rojo) A To-Be-Named Korean BBQ Concept by Kevin Tien (Moon Rabbit) Elena James by Colin McClimans and Danilo Simic (Opal, Nina May) Alfreda by Russell Smith (The Source, CUT by Wolfgang Puck) Mallard by Hamilton Johnson (Honeysuckle, American Son) Two Nine by Zach Ramos and Amy Phan (Ama Ami) Urai by Ben Plyraharn (Newland, Maketto)
There will also be beer by Right Proper Brewing Company, and cocktails powered by spirits provided by District Made Spirits.
It’s this Saturday, June 10, and tickets are being sold for two separate two-hour sessions; 12-2 p.m. and 3-5 p.m., at Mess Hall, 703 Edgewood St. NE, Washington, DC 20017; messhalldc.com
There are also a limited number of VIP tickets available, which include a bonus ticket to an exclusive afterparty at Right Proper’s Brookland Production House & Tasting Room, a short walk from Mess Hall.
For months now, two opening events have been eagerly awaited in these parts. Salt and Vine, the new restaurant in the Olney House, has been soft-opened for dinner for about a week. The other, Olney Winery in Ashton, now projects opening “sometime between June and July.”
Update on The Winery
The Olney Winery’s interior is just about finished. It has a neo-neon kind of vibe, thanks to some very cool backlighting behind the bottle racks in the front room. The new oven is up and cooking pizza. The chef, Tim Couzens, has developed a small menu of snacks designed to go well with wine.
Chef Tim and His Oven
Inside the Tasting Room
The Old House is New Again
Salt and Vine promises to raise the level of dining in this part of the county. The chef and owner, Tom Zeppelli, gave me a tour the other day and described the extensive renovations that were made to the historic structure, while remaining true to the nature of the property. Research revealed that the house once had a front porch, so it was reconstructed. Along with a large ground-level patio, it’s now one of several options for outside dining. There’s also a second-floor balcony around the back.
Front Façade with Patio and Porch
And More Outside Options Around the Back
The interior’s two stories have light-filled rooms (some fit for private dining) full of high-style, minimalist, but comfortable-looking furnishings.
For those of us who remember when Ricciuti’s occupied the space, there’s little left of the interior from those days except the wood-burning oven. “Don’t call it a pizza oven, because we are planning to use it for more than pizza,” said Chef Tom. And, indeed, there are only three pies on the menu, but many other courses, from antipasti to dessert.
The Wood-Fired Oven
Interior: Sleek But Comfortable
There is a full bar, and a wine program. “The wines are mostly Italian, except for Champagne,” said Tom. What about Prosecco? I asked. “Oh,” he said, “We have Prosecco on draft!”
