What I'm Reading - Liza and Gary's DC Pizza Blog

I just stumbled upon this site and love it. There's been a lot of talk lately about pizza, and I really hope that Liza and Gary's DC Pizza Blog sticks around to cover this hot and cheesy trend.

Great minds...

After writing my post on overrated and over used dishes, I figured I'd ask Tom what he thought...I'm glad to see we're in agreement:

Washington, D.C.:

Tom,

Are there any dishes that you've seen so many times on menus that you just wish they'd go away?

Tom Sietsema: Like molten chocolate cake? And tuna tartare?

Food Day!

Happy food day folks. Here's what's going on in the world of food:

Wanted: Anyone
I think the most important and interesting story in the WaPo food section today is a story by Jane Black about a critical staffing shortage among restaurant staff around the city. Uber-chef Cathal Armstrong is quoted as saying that the lack of good help is preventing him from opening new ventures, and is keeping new chefs away from our area. I really hope that this situation somehow resolves itself and the region starts to attract and retain lower level culinary talent so that our upper level culinary talent can continue to make this area one of the best to eat.

Iron Celebrities
There's a great piece in the New York Times about the rise of the celebrity chef culture and how chefs are more corporations than cooks. I'll have to admit, I get all kinds of excited when I see chefs I recognize, but we have to ask ourselves - at what point do we appreciate the glamour more than we do the product?

Sounds delicious
I'm not a huge music fan, but I'm intrigued by The Carlyle Club, a new restaurant opening up October 18th that will play big band music along with serving oysters Rockefeller and duck confit salad, according to an article in the Washington Post. Brennan Reilly, the brains and funding behind the idea owns Yesterdays All-American Cafe, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and co-owns Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town Alexandria. James Bryant, an area native, will man the stove, fresh from the Dataw Island Club in Saint Helena, S.C.

Bourdain bashes boring food

So I couldn't go more than a week without posting something else Anthony Bourdain related - but from October's issue of Radar Magazine, Bourdain gives us his overrated menu, or dishes that are overdone and overvalued.



So what's on the menu? Such dishes as pea soup topped with truffle oil, cruelty-free Berkshire pork with shallot reduction and Yukon potato gnocchi, and of course, the chocolate martini.

While I agree with most of his entries (Unlike Bourdain, I think that you can put a crust on a piece of fish or chicken without destroying the dish), I think he left a few dishes off.

Below is my overrated menu. Let me know what you think.

Tuna Tartare (in its many variations)
Really folks, what percentage of restaurants in this city have a tuna tartare on their menu? Don't get me wrong, I like tartares, but tuna in general is just over done. Stick to sushi, tuna - don't get greedy.

Filet Mignon (Just for the hell of it)
I'm a big fan of filet mignon, but I feel as if you should only have it on your menu if meat is your thing. It's a great excuse to charge a lot of money for a cut of meat everyone knows about, but again, I'd much rather have a hanger steak and pay $15 less, or have another less cliche protein.

Double (or triple or quad...you get the point) Chocolate anything
Yes, people love chocolate. But do I really need a five pound hunk of butter and chocolate sitting in my stomach at the end of the meal? No. Any dessert I can get at Ruby Tuesday's is a dessert I can pass on.

Now I feel horrible

I really hate stories like this. Some kid, younger than I am, doing things that I wish I would have done when I was in school.

The NY Times ran a feature yesterday about Bryan Zupon, a senior at Duke University who has decided to shun college food and embrace molecular-gastronomy - turning his dorm room into a "restaurant" called "Z Kitchen".

This is something I would have done in college - but I always seemed to forget my Burberry polo shirt, pinstripe chinos and Duke flip-flops at home.