Jose Andres -

by Russell Warnick

UPDATED—Endless Questions: Giada Talks Clinton, WillKat and Mike Isabella

UPDATED: Giada is right. Giada told Endless Simmer’s Russell Warnick that Top Chef Alum Mike Isabella planned to open a new restaurant in Georgetown. Simmer’s Stefanie Gans (gansie) called Isabella for confirmation. He denied it. Turns out, the scoop was meant for Washington Post’s dining critic Tom Sietsema and the restaurant is actually in the works.

Eater has the dramatic play-by-play of the restaurant announcement.

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This past weekend DC hosted the 6th annual Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show, a collection of salsas, olive oils and oddly, British cashmere scarves. Not only is it an opportunity for small businesses to present their products to the masses, it’s also a chance for your favorite celebrity chefs to hawk a few books. Guy Fieri was presented to 2,500 military spouses by Dr. Jill Biden while Paula Deen pimped out her Caribbean cruise and Smithfield Ham. The envy of every straight guy out there, I got to speak with Giada De Laurentiis, and yes, she’s as hot in person as she is on TV, even with the cold she was suffering at the time.

Giada spoke of her time cooking for Prince William and Kate, what she’d cook for Bill Clinton and a little gossip about DC’s very own Mike Isabella…

in Celebs / TV 1 comments

by gansie

My Similarities with a Fox

My first meal on a weekend will never be a salad. Monday through Friday, sure, I’ll put together something healthy. Something with kale. Something with yogurt and berries. But all I want Saturday revolves around the difficult task of bringing eggs to the farmers market.

This Saturday Truck Patch farm only brought about 20 cartons of eggs; they usually have triple. I grabbed a dozen right away. Weeks earlier, when Brian the farmer didn’t show up with many eggs, he told me the reason was it was too hot. The chickens wouldn’t lay. And I was like, dude, I totally get it. I wouldn’t want to do much of anything in this heat, much less squirt out a fucking egg. I figured the same thing happened this week. But no. Another natural occurrence took place – a predator ate the eggs. Brian found broken shells.

I can’t blame that fox or coyote for lapping up all those runny yolks.

Luckily though, they saved some for me.

Yolky Sun with Zucchini Rays

by gansie

Welcome Spring’s Simplicity

The cooking is easy this time of year. Spring offers much less variety than summer, which almost eliminates tough decision making at the farmers’ market. For me, I had to decide between buying three or four bundles of asparagus. In the summer it’ll be the a much more difficult choice of Japanese eggplants or pattypan squashes. I opted for three bundles and by Sunday night, two have been used.

I’ll know better next week.

Asparagus and Goat Cheese Open Omelet

in Cheese / Eggs / Recipe / Veggie 1 comments

by Russell Warnick

Top Chef Exit Interview: Episode 8

It only took 8 episodes for the producers of Top Chef to show some true love to DC. Not only did they focus on our fascination with Ethiopian food, they also sent a hefty $10K donation over to DC Central Kitchen, in the name of José Andrés. I tip my hat to you, Bravo.

Keep reading for what this week’s loser has to say.

in TV 2 comments

by gansie

Look What the March Brought In

I actually went through with it. I proclaimed that I would get my (hungover) ass to the Dupont Farmers Market and with a few nudging texts from friend, westcoast, I made it. What I didn’t realize during my original proclamation was that it would be stinkin beautiful in DC and all of the hibernating foodies in the city would also make the trek to the market. That wouldn’t have been an issue had we not arrived at the market only 30 minutes before closing. (One day I will start a farmers market that opens at 11 am and closes at 4 pm.)

Here’s what March looks like at the farmers market.

Celeb sighting! Recent James Beard Award nominee for Outstanding Chef, Jose Andres of Minibar, also hits up the late-shift at the market.

I’ve been wondering what I’d find in early March. We’re about 6 weeks from the first asparagus stalks and ramps, right? So here we are with months-old apples. I tried a sample slice: sweet, juicy and a tinge mealy. We didn’t buy any.

There were sweet potatoes.

Lots and lots of sweet potatoes.

in Celebs / Photos / Veggie 3 comments