For food people, the James Beard Awards rival the Oscars. We root for our favorite or hometown chefs and seek out the restaurants of award-winners while traveling. Any mention of Mr. Beard’s name in a restaurant review means major culinary clout.
If you identify with the above, you can understand my excitement upon being invited to attend a dinner at the James Beard House—the former residence of the man himself in New York’s West Village.
The Beard House is an unassuming townhouse that looks like any other on its block, except for the small plaque indicating that it is actually a culinary shrine. For chefs, it is a great honor to be asked to cook there, and the talented group of eight Washington D.C. toques who were cooking when I visited was no exception. They crammed into the crowded kitchen and studiously worked as a team to plate each dish.
Washington D.C. chefs bring their best stuff to the JBH: Working together to plate Wild Sea Bass with Tianjin and Fragrant Herbs from Scott Drewno of D.C.'s The Source
In the cozy upstairs dining rooms, each chef personally presented his or her dish, and lucky diners enjoyed every morsel of a six-course meal, plus hors d’oeuvres and dangerously good cocktails from top D.C. mixologists.
Tawa Baingan: Marinated Eggplant with Spiced Potatoes, Jaggery, Coconut and Peanut Sauce from Vikram Sunderam of D.C.'s Rasika
Here’s a taste of the incredible food you can expect from a James Beard House meal. A peek at the six-course menu from “The Best of D.C.” dinner in August:
- Abalone & Foie Gras with White Soy, Meyer Lemon & Jalapeno (Haidar Karoum, Proof)
- Chilled Heirloom Tomato Soup with Crispy Fried Softshell Crab, Virginia Corn Chowchow & Smoked Paprika (Daniel Giusti, 1789 Restaurant)
- Tawa Baingan: Olive Oil, Garlic & Black Pepper-Marinated Italian Eggplant with Spiced Potatoes, Jaggery, Coconut & Peanut Sauce (Vikram Sunderam, Rasika)
- Steamed Wild Sea Bass with Tianjin & Fragrant Herbs (Scott Drewno, The Source by Wolfgang Puck)
- Roasted Duck Breast with Swiss Chard, Strawberry Chutney, Cherry Wood Balsamic & Summer Beans (Bertrand Chemel, 2941 Restaurant)
- Virginia Wildflower Honey Panna Cotta with Orange & Carrot (Josh Short, Buzz Bakery)
Chilled Heirloom Tomato Soup with Crispy Fried Softshell Crab, Virginia Corn Chowchow and Smoked Paprika from chef Daniel Giusti of D.C.'s 1789 Restaurant
While contemplating my good fortune from my seat at the table, I learned an amazing little-known fact: Anyone can buy tickets to dine at the Beard House. Just check their calendar of upcoming events and call to make a reservation, or make one through Open Table.
Hello are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you require any html coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
My wife and i got cheerful when Raymond managed to complete his inquiry out of the ideas he came across while using the weblog. It’s not at all simplistic just to possibly be offering information and facts most people might have been trying to sell. Therefore we remember we’ve got the website owner to thank because of that. The entire illustrations you’ve made, the simple web site menu, the friendships you will help to instill – it is mostly astounding, and it’s really making our son in addition to our family reckon that this issue is fun, and that’s unbelievably mandatory. Thank you for the whole lot!
KPI Data Mining…
Do you know what data mining is? It is a type of useful methods used by some businesses for sales and marketing….
betty Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people think about worries that they just dont know about. You managed t…
Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people think about worries that they just dont know about. You managed to hit th…