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Fresh and fabulous

Local chef shares tips from new book

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Jonathan Bardic, gay news, Washington Blade
Jonathan Bardzic, gay news, Washington Blade

Jonathan Bardzic says ideal recipes use fresh, local ingredients that are easy to find. (Photo by Matt Hocking)

Jonathan Bardzik’s joy for both cooking and life is absolutely palpable, whether you’ve seen one of his weekly cooking demonstrations at local farmers markets or read either of his cookbooks, “Simple Summer” or “Seasons to Taste.”

A self-described “passionate home cook,” Bardzik’s professional culinary career took its first experimental steps nearly five years ago when he set out on a hot July morning to demonstrate recipes at Capitol Hill’s historic Eastern Market. Working on a patch of dirt — and without a tent — Bardzik recalls, “By the end of the demo I was icing down bowls that had gotten so hot in the sun they were wilting salad greens on contact.”

Since then, Bardzik has invested in a tent to shield himself and his food from the weather but, more importantly, he’s built a career that is distinctly connected to interacting with the farmers market shoppers who stop by to watch him cook — usually at Eastern Market, but also at Bloomingdale Farmers Market and many others along the East Coast.

“I do most of my cooking outside on a sidewalk with just a knife, a cutting board and a camp stove,” he says. “Every recipe I develop is sampled by 60 or more people who take home recipe cards. If a recipe doesn’t work or is too complicated, I know about it.”

Because Bardzik’s recipes are almost entirely made with ingredients that come directly from the farmers markets where he’s cooking, it means that the ingredients are truly accessible to his audience — no need to search far and wide for odd items, which means that Bardzik’s recipes really can be replicated at home, a distinct nod to the chef’s own origins as a home cook.

“This is not just my vocation,” he says, “it is truly my passion.”

Cooking for his husband Jason and extended family is clearly both a joy and a passion that is evident in Bardzik’s new cookbook, “Seasons to Taste: Farm Fresh Joy for Kitchen & Table” (Story Farm, 2015).

“I think that being gay has offered me a special appreciation for the importance of the people who give our lives meaning — both the families we are born into and the ones we choose,” he says. “I see cooking and sharing food as a way to celebrate and nurture those relationships and to share joy.”

Peppered throughout with stories about recipes inspired by family gatherings and dinner parties with friends, “Seasons to Taste” explores how to get the best flavor out of seasonal foods, such as the delicate asparagus of early spring, an experience which Bardzik recalls fondly.

“Jason and I joyfully eat it every night only to find, two weeks later, the newness wearing off … but we eat every last stem, knowing it will be 10-and-a-half months before fresh, crisp, sugary asparagus returns to the market.”

Bardzik acknowledges that we can buy asparagus all year in most grocery stores, yet also seeks to remind us that utterly fresh local asparagus, available just a scant six weeks each spring, has a sweetness that can only be tasted in its own season; by enjoying it seasonally, we learn to truly appreciate its flavor.

While Bardzik typically does not do outdoor market demonstrations during the winter months, he’ll certainly be cooking up seasonal recipes, such as a rich tomato-based Andouille Swordfish Stew and a surprisingly light Celery Root Soup with Bacon & Apple.

“I love winter farm markets,” he says. “First, short days and cold weather make us desperate for fresh food and this is where you’ll find it. Second, there’s something fun and exciting about winter market-fresh food. Everyone can make a summer tomato taste great, but working with winter root vegetables, greens and slow-cooked roasts and braises gives a special kind of sense of accomplishment.”

 

RECIPES: 

From Jonathan Bardzik’s “Seasons to Taste: Farm Fresh Joy for Kitchen & Table” (Story Farm, 2015) (reprinted with permission)

With New Year’s Eve on the horizon, Bardzik recommends his Celery Root Soup recipe as one that is worthy of your best china and linens, but isn’t fussy in the kitchen, while the Andouille Swordfish Stew is a perfect one-pot meal for a lazy evening watching the ball drop on television.

“New Year’s Eve demands menus that work well whether you’re hosting a glitzy affair or an easy gathering of old friends,” Bardzik says. “Roasting or braising meats develops depth of flavor without a lot of last minute prep while your guests are in the other room sipping champagne.”

Celery Root Soup with Bacon & Apple

Serves six-eight

Creamy and rich, with a bright hint of celery and almost no cream. The garnishes take this soup from good to spectacular.

Ingredients:
2 strips thick cut bacon, diced
4 shallots, minced
1 large celery root, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 cups vegetable stock, divided
2 tbs cream
2 tbs butter
Sherry vinegar
White pepper
Pinch nutmeg
1 tart apple cut in thin matchsticks
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
Celery leaves, chopped

Directions:

Place bacon in a 4 quart stock pot over medium-low heat. Cook until bacon is brown and fat is rendered.  Remove bacon with slotted spoon and place on paper towel to drain.

Add shallots to pan with bacon fat and sauté over medium heat until soft. Add celery root and cook additional 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute until fragrant.

Add 2 cups stock and stew, partially covered, for 5-7 minutes.

Add remaining stock and simmer 10-15 minutes longer until celery root is soft.

Process soup with an immersion blender or food processor until smooth.

Return soup to pot and warm to a simmer over medium heat.

Remove the soup from heat and stir in the cream and butter. Season to taste with salt, white pepper, nutmeg and vinegar.

Serve garnished with apple matchsticks, celery, celery leaves and crumbled bacon.

Tip: White pepper has a lighter, more floral flavor than black peppercorns, making it a perfect pairing with the light, starchy flavor of celery root. Just like black, white pepper is best freshly ground.

Andouille Swordfish Stew

Serves six

Bright with tomatoes, hearty from meaty swordfish, with just the right touch of heat from spicy Andouille sausage, this lighter alternative to beef stew sacrifices none of the satisfaction.

Ingredients:

4 tbs olive oil, divided
1 Andouille sausage, quartered and cut in 1/2” slices
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups fingerling potatoes, cut in 1” pieces
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 14 ounce can San Marzano or other plum tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1 tbs dried oregano
1 1/2 pounds swordfish steak, 1” thick, skinned and cut in 1” cubes
2 tbs chopped rosemary, divided

Directions:

Warm 2 tbs olive oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add sausage and cook until browned. Remove with slotted spoon.

Add onions and cook until softened and beginning to brown. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.

Add potatoes and cook for five minutes.

Add wine, partially cover, and stew until liquid is reduced by half.

Add tomatoes, bay leaves, oregano and cooked sausage. Cover and cook until potatoes are easily split with a knife, about 10-20 minutes.

Add swordfish and stir in 1 tbs rosemary. Cover and cook 10-12 minutes until fish is cooked through.

Stir in remaining 2 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs rosemary, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Tip: Adding some of the rosemary earlier in the cooking gives mellow depth to the dish while sprinkling in a bit more at the end lends a bright, piney punch.

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Dining

New D.C. restaurants opening just in time for spring

Mexican fare, burgers, fancy cocktails, and more on tap

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Many restaurants, bars, and hotels are planning events across the city for the National Cherry Blossom Festival later this month.

Shaking off winter slumber, the D.C. dining scene this spring is gathering steam. Just a taste of the openings and happenings are below:

Already Open

Pascual (732 Maryland Ave., N.E.): This modern Mexican restaurant is helmed by chefs Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy of Lutèce, and run by The Popal Group (which also owns Lapop and Lapis). Pascual gets its name from the patron saint of cooks and kitchens. The menu, which rests on fire-grilled dishes, is inspired by Coss’s Mexico City roots, and both chefs’ past work at top Mexican restaurants. Pascual plans to add a daytime bakery and coffee shop called Volcán.

Moon Rabbit (927 F St., N.W.): Chef Kevin Tien abruptly closed his Moon Rabbit restaurant on the Wharf a year ago during union negotiations by staff of the Intercontinental Hotel, where the restaurant was located. This reopening represents a welcome comeback of this fine-dining Vietnamese restaurant. The restaurant concept will be the same, but will have new dishes for the new space.

Joia Burger (3213 Mt. Pleasant St., N.W.): It’s smash patties and French fries that make up the entire menu of this fun-filled carryout spot. Run by Purple Patch chef/owner Patrice Cleary, she brings burgers (including veggie burgers) in a family-friendly and homey atmosphere, as well as vibrant ube soft serve as a nod to her Filipino heritage.

Coming soon

Press Club (1506 19th St., N.W.) is an intriguing new spot from industry old-timers including Will Patton (from Bresca and Jônt). Located in Dupont Circle, it will be a new bar and cocktail lounge based on the format of records (i.e. sides A and B). The a la carte “Track List” menu is a cocktail menu that rotates biannually featuring the team’s favorite spirits and techniques. The curated “Play List” menu is a bi-monthly rotating cocktail flights highlighting more seasonal ingredients, presented tableside with supplemental bites. The cocktails will draw inspiration from songs loved by the founders and are arranged to resemble the flow of a record.

Immigrant Food (4245 N. Fairfax Dr.): The restaurant group combining global dishes and advocacy is set to open a new spot in Ballston. Immigrant Food has three locations already: the Planet Word Museum, by the White House and in Union Market. The restaurant will feature both indoor and outdoor dining areas by the Ballston Metro.

 Bar Japonais (1520 14th St., N.W.): This restaurant is still forthcoming in the former Estadio space, set for later this spring. It will be a take on its sister restaurant Bar Chinois in Mount Vernon Square. Bar Japonais will bring together French and Japanese influences. Developed in the izakaya style, the restaurant will have Japanese-leaning food and French-leaning cocktails, and has weekly events in the works.

Dogon, at Salamander Hotel (1330 Maryland Ave., S.W.), is a highly anticipated opening from celebrity chef Kwame Onwauchi. The opening represents his return to D.C. with a concept inspired by D.C. Surveyor Benjamin Banneker and Onwauchi’s heritage to the West African Dogon tribe. Pronounced “Doh-gon,” the restaurant will serve vibrant cuisine through an Afro-Caribbean lens and draw from Onwuachi’s unique Nigerian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, and Creole background. 

Alfreda (2016 P St., N.W.): A pizzeria in Dupont Circle, named for the chef’s grandmother. The pizzas – made on a sourdough crust and including gluten-free options – are based on more traditional techniques, but using global flavors. The menu also includes salads, small plates, and a long wine list.

Beresovsky’s Deli: Gay-owned KNEAD Hospitality + Design is teasing a deli later this year. It will be located inside the preexisting Mah-Ze-Dahr Navy Yard location. 

Events

The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), is expanding from its winter and summer Restaurant Weeks to give diners another opportunity to celebrate the change of seasons with Spring Wine Fling. Spring Wine Fling is a platform for local eateries to highlight their wine programs with creative pairings. Participating locations will showcase their wine programs through curated wines paired with two-course prefix $55 menu offered during dinner service. 

National Cherry Blossom Festival: RAMW is also working with the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The National Park Service has anticipated peak bloom dates for 2024 between March 23–26. The festival has developed a full list (called “cherry picks”) of where to eat as part of the celebration. Many restaurants, bars, and hotels have also set up activations and events across the city.

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Pastry chef Alex Levin creates desserts with global influences

And now he’s on a quest to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie

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Alex Levin

A decade as a decorated pastry chef in Washington, D.C., and Alex Levin knows how to create a global realm of desserts. But he also knows that the whole is tastier than the sum of its parts.

Levin serves as Executive Pastry Chef and as part of the executive team for Schlow Restaurant Group, where he’s worked since 2017. He’s crafted desserts for the group’s breadth of restaurant cuisines, from Spanish at Tico (recently rebranded as Japanese Nama Ko), American at now-closed Riggsby, Japanese at Nama and Nama Ko, and Italian at the several Alta Strada spots. He also throws an annual sold-out bakery pop-up for Thanksgiving and for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. “There’s something fun and so meaningful to spend nine straight days making food that will be a part of so many people’s celebrations,” he says.

Yet as a gay man, he also strives for representation and a focus on supporting the LGBTQ community.

After graduating from Yale and focusing on a career in management and finance, Levin fled that industry to attend the Culinary Institute of America to follow his passion for pastry and restaurant management. After graduation, he trained at restaurants like Jean Georges and Cafe Boulud in New York, and moved to D.C. in 2013 to open Osteria Morini as pastry chef. There, he made a name for himself, earning a spot on Eater’s Young Guns in 2015 and in 2016, he earned the title of Best Pastry Chef from the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. 

It was a time of invention in the dessert space. Levin was deeply embedded in some of that boundary-stretching.

“When I first became a pastry chef, all of my mentors were pushing me to create deconstructed desserts. I really fell in love with that approach, because it challenged me to think very far outside of the box to have a guest really understand that a plate with five components on it could be considered a lemon tart.”

Yet at Schlow, running dessert programs across the city for an increasingly demanding clientele, his approach evolved. The deconstructed version might look more beautiful, but he realized that it also has to taste even better than its classic counterpart.

“I realized that sometimes there is no reason to alter a classic dessert but to add perhaps a modern shift. That’s where I feel most comfortable now. It allows me to continue to express creativity both visually and with flavor to create the best version of a classic dessert.”

At Alta Strada (which has landed in the Washington Post’s Dining Guide for several years), Levin leans in to the restaurant’s homey style, with a touch of his signature flair, in the several desserts he makes. Traditional bomboloni get a glow up, given depth and tang with ricotta, vanilla, and orange in the batter and receiving a liberal dusting of cinnamon sugar; they’re served on a platter with chocolate hazelnut crema (i.e. liquid Nutella). He also crafts a brownie-cheesecake mashup: a whipped ricotta (sense a theme?) cheesecake sits atop a rich brownie, the black-and-white dessert set off by a single Luxardo cherry on top.

At Nama Ko, Levin’s menu is more concise but takes some additional liberties. The star is the Miso Honey Black Truffle soft serve ice cream, drizzled in chocolate sauce and caramel, under a shower of chocolate and toffee (there’s also a passionfruit sorbet with ube shortbread crumble). Now an expert at adjusting his soft serve machine to the right ratio of sugar, dairy, and flavor, Levin matches the sushi restaurant’s entrees with the ice cream’s balanced umami. Speaking of matching: he also plates a matcha crème brulee.

“When planning the dessert program for Nama Ko, I wanted to do something totally different for dessert — something the restaurant could be known for all on its own. The program had to be fun and allow the guests to have a Japanese dessert but with a twist. Once we landed on soft serve, the proposed flavors needed to have a level of simplicity and complexity.” The rollout received accolades, including in Washington City Paper and Eater’s Soft Serve map.

Levin, though, also serves as director of Strategic Business Initiatives. He coordinates operations, recruiting, reporting, marketing, menu design, and photography. He is constantly rethinking: refining his rotating selection of chocolate bonbons for special events, using colored cocoa butter for visual effect. He stays up on cookbooks, YouTube, and Instagram as resources for explanations and demos, “even how to braid a challah dough using a new technique.”

After coming out in 2000, Levin says he never encountered much homophobia in the culinary industry. In D.C., he works to support LGBTQ groups, personally and through his restaurants. “That might mean making Thanksgiving desserts for SMYAL’s annual Thanksgiving dinner for the kids, or even transforming one of our restaurants into a destination for D.C.’s annual Pride.” Levin also picks up a shift at the special seated dinner tables at the annual Chefs for Equality event, one the largest (and most fabulous) fundraisers for Human Rights Campaign.

Levin won’t rest on his soft serve laurels, continuing to find creative space. Stay tuned to his latest project, going on three years: to create “the best chocolate chip cookie. The current version is pretty close, but I continue to make some small modifications to improve the outcome.”

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D.C.’s Restaurant Week is back with expanded pricing structure

‘More dining options to customers at a variety of price points’

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Jamie Leeds’s ever-popular Hank’s Oyster Bar is among venues participating in Restaurant Week. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The wintertime culinary highlight is back: Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) Winter Restaurant Week returns Monday, Jan. 15, through Sunday, Jan. 21.

The big news: Restaurant Week is expanding its pricing structure. Participating restaurants can offer multi-course brunch (including on Jan. 15, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day) and lunch menus for $25 or $35 per person. Dinner menus now run for $40, $55, or $65 per person. And again, many restaurants will also offer cocktail and wine (and non-alcoholic) pairings, giving diners various ways to drink (or not) along with their meals.

RAMW President & CEO Shawn Townsend said that the new “menu prices have been added to the promotion to allow more restaurants to participate and have these participants offer more dining options to customers at a variety of price points that fit every budget.”

More than 250 restaurants across the city, Maryland, and Northern Virginia are participating this year.

A non-comprehensive list of new restaurants:

• Latin-inspired Flora at luxe Wharf hotel Pendry

• Modern Malaysian restaurant Makan in Columbia Heights

• Mita in Shaw, a showstopping vegetarian restaurant that opened less than a month ago

• Ceibo in Adams Morgan, a unique Uruguayan restaurant that opened in October

• Code Red in Adams Morgan, a halfway hidden mood-lit speakeasy-style spot

• Mercy Me at Yours Truly Hotel, which just debuted a new menu

• Little Black Bird, a cozy wine bar

• Michelin-starred Xiquet DL in Woodley Park, where the everyday tasting menu runs a cool $265

• Big-name celebrity chef Jose Andres’ blockbuster new restaurant The Bazaar.

In NoVa, there are also a few first-timers, including Ingle Korean Steakhouse, Sabores, and Makers Union; first-time Maryland participants include Charley Prime Foods in Gaithersburg and several Milk and Honey locations.

RAMW is highlighting the H Street, N.E., neighborhood (which this author noted is struggling in his 2023 D.C. Dining Year in Review) through the participation of an overflowing handful of new (Ethiopic, Granville Moore’s, Irregardless, Paste & Rind, Pow Pow, The Queen Vic, Sospeso, and Sticky Rice) and returning (Mozzeria, Maketto, Stable, and Sticky Fingers Diner) spots. In fact, H Street is home to the only two vegan restaurants participating, Sticky Fingers and Pow Pow.

To support LGBTQ-run restaurants, diners could visit Hank’s Oyster Bar (Dupont Circle and on the Wharf), owned by Jamie Leeds. Gay-owned KNEAD Hospitality + Design is involving its restaurants in the promotion. The group’s restaurants include Gatsby, Mi Vida, The Grill, and more.

The “RW-To-Go dinner meals,” a program popular during the pandemic, has ended. As Restaurant Week was originally created for people to dine-in, “we would love for people to get out and enjoy meals in restaurants,” said an RAMW representative.

Some spots are offering additional deals, extended timelines, and other options. For example, Buena Vida Gastrolounge and Ambar are extending promotions through Jan. 28.

Winter Restaurant Week is also offering a Diner Rewards Program. Participants are entered into prizes for each Washington Restaurant Week cycle, including gift cards, cookbooks, and event tickets.

“Restaurant week is important because it brings people together, boosts the economy, and puts a spotlight on all of the wonderful restaurants in the region,” says Townsend.

The Washington Blade held a short interview with two restaurateurs: one returning, and one new (responses have been edited for space and clarity).

Returning restaurant: Trummers. Responses by Stefan Trummer, owner.

 BLADE: Why is your restaurant participating in Winter Restaurant Week?

TRUMMER: We are excited to offer our guests a fun menu to encourage diners to try both our lunch and dinner experience. We haven’t participated in RW since before COVID and it feels right to get back on track with this promotion. 

BLADE: What do you like about the promotion?

TRUMMER: Restaurant Week often attracts new guests to the restaurant. It gives us a chance to meet some new diners and offer our menus to a wider audience.

BLADE: Tell us something unique and specific about your restaurant

TRUMMER: Trummer’s is a modern bistro in a beautiful historic building and town. Each room of the restaurant offers different experiences from the bar with specialty cocktails and a massive whiskey list to the Winter Garden with bright airy dining or the Wine Room with a large picture window looking into our expansive wine cellar.

New restaurant: Fireclay. Responses by Frank Gray, executive chef at the Hotel Washington.

BLADE: Why is your restaurant participating in Winter Restaurant Week?

GRAY: Fireclay at Hotel Washington is a newcomer to the downtown D.C. gastronomy. It is joining the rooftop bar, Vue at the Hotel Washington. (Formerly POV at W Hotel). This is Fireclay’s inaugural Restaurant Week and we want to showcase all it has to offer.

BLADE: What do you like about the promotion?

GRAY: It gives newcomers such as Fireclay extra exposure in the D.C. market alongside some of the best restaurants in D.C.

BLADE: Tell us something unique and specific about your restaurant?

GRAY: It is a “kissed by fire” food and beverage concept. All dishes and drinks have a component of smokiness and the majority of dishes are finished in wood burning Argentine-style ovens.

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