And now for something a little different..Charity

Hopefully all of the wonderful meals I've had and great times I post about haven't left you feeling that I'm a purely hedonistic, self-indulgent FOWG. I actually am all of that, but there's more to it. I am involved in charity as well.
Over the past year I've begun organizing events to benefit the Make A Wish foundation named Shooting with Chefs™ with my friends William Rothwell and Jason Wilt.
Here's our cool logo, courtesy of Unison:

Here's a shot of us with the two guest chefs:

From left to right William Rothwell, Bryan Voltaggio, your's truly, Mike Isabella, and Jason Wilt.

Here's a nice groupie of all of the participants and the sponsors who came.

Our first event was held at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Izaak Walton League last year. It was a small event where about 25 people got together, ate some good food, shot some fine firearms, and then had a silent auction by the bonfire while imbibing in cigars and bourbon. We raised a little over $1,500, and had a damn fine time doing it.

This year, we cranked up the gas a bit and formalized things a little more. We raised, thanks to the overwhelming generosity of some great companies and restaurants, $17,000 for Make a Wish Mid-Atlantic.
The event has taught me about fund raising, working with people across a much wider range of businesses than I'm used to dealing with, and the generosity of some restaurant people. I have to say, it's been eye opening, impressive, and humbling.

The restaurants and/or chef/owners who so generously donated auction items and time to the event are:
Bryan Voltaggio of Range, Volt, Aggio, Family Meal and lunchbox
Mike Isabella of Graffiato, Kapnos, and G Sandwich
Michael Knapp of Irish Whiskey and Copperwood Tavern
Jawad Saadaoui of District Kitchen
Jaime Sanchez of Cactus Cantina and Lauriol Plaza
David Moran of the Old Ebbitt Grill
Justin Guthrie and Mark Kuller of Doi Moi
Donna Giarratana of ThinkFood Group
Thomas Gates of BF Saul Properties
Michael Morris of Cana Development
Laetitia Liguouzat of Paul Bakery

We'll be doing this again next spring. If you're interested in participating as a sponsor, contributor to the silent auction, or just attending please email ChefShoot@Outlook.com

Thanks for reading!

Pleasures of the Table Supports Share Our Strength at Taste of the Nation DC

Had a wonderful night at Taste of the Nations Share our Strength.  The National Building Museum is a tremendous venue, literally and figuratively.

The first character I ran into was Dean of Dino Rustic Italian Restaurant.  He serves up some of the finest Italian in DC.  Authentic.  If you'd like to see a review of his restaurant check it out here: http://pleasuresofthetable.blogspot.com/2011/10/dino-in-dcnow-thats-amore.html

These guys are having a good time at the Graffiato/Bandolero booth.  George Pagonis is on the left and Ryan Jones on the right.  George is the Sous Chef at Bandolero and Ryan is the AGM.  Mike Isabella has a good crew working for him.

Bryan Voltaggio was dealing with the papa razzi.

Max Kuller showing his mad skills with the sherry.  Actually, he was just practicing with water this year. 

As I was saying about the venue....beautiful.

This is Mikey Maksimowicz of Rogue 24.  He got a haircut!  Lookin' good Mikey.

This was the dish of the night.  Admittedly I wasn't up to trying everything in the place.  There are a lot of participants to visit.  This particular item was deviled eggs with smoked trout and something crunchy on top.  I can't tell you what it was, but I can tell you that one of the un-sung great chefs of DC made it. 
. Haidar Karoum of Proof and Estadio is true talent who never fails to impress.  Keep Rockin'!

Thanks for reading.  Next up will be a post about the day I spent at Busboys and Poets in a seminar for people who want to open restaurants in DC.  It was presented by ThinkLocalFirstDC.com.

Home Cookin'! Graffiato's Pepperoni Sauce

Want to make your friends and family happy?  Those who are in the culinary cognizanti will remember this dish that got Gail Simmons...excited, shall we say?
Truth of the matter is it couldn't be easier, and it tastes damned good.
Mike Isabella was kind enough to share this recipe with the internets, so I thought I'd give it a shot and see if it turned out as well as it does in his restaurant, Graffiato.
Ingredients below are taken, without permission or credit, to the Washington Post's Recipe Database:

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, cut into small dice
• 5 medium cloves garlic, cut into very thin slices
• 1 pound pepperoni, cut into thin slices
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted (see NOTE)
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 8 to 12 ounces canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, with their juices
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 fresh bay leaf

Start by getting all your ingredients prepped and ready to go.  Slice your garlic.

Dice your onion.

Toast your fennel seeds in a dry pan.  Keep an eye on it and shake often as they'll burn quickly.

Put the olive oil in a pan.  I made the mistake of using one that was too small right off the bat.  Use at least a 2 qt. heavy-bottomed pan.  Get it hot over medium, then add the onion and the garlic.  Saute until it's soft. 

 Add the pepperoni, toasted fennel seeds, bay leaf, cook and stir to get everything nicely coated, then add the tomatoes.

After a few minutes, add the chicken stock.  Wait until it's starting to boil, then reduce to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.  You want everything to be nice and soft.

After you've cooked it for the 45-60 minutes, take it off the heat and let it cool down a bit.  Then take the contents of the pot and puree the crap out of it!  You want it to be nice and smooth.

You'll end up with a quart+ of wonderful, spicy Pepperoni Sauce. 

This was so tasty I had to run some down to my neighbor.  His family was having roasted chicken and they used it as a topper.  They called me on speaker phone (all 4 of them) and gushed about how good it was and that it tasted JUST LIKE Graffiato's.

Give it a shot folks.  It's easy and awesome.  Great for dipping, using for pasta sauce (like I did that night) and possibly glazing. I haven't tried that yet, but I will soon.

Thanks for reading.  As always, comments and questions are appreciated.

Top 10 Things I Put In My Mouth in 2011

As 2011 sputters to a close, it's time for a little retrospection of what has come to pass.  I've done some serious dining.  Some of the food I had was so good that I actually get misty when I describe it to people.  Some of it, not so much.

What I've assembled here are the top ten dishes I had the presence of mind to photograph this year.  If you click on the pictures they will expand to show you the big shot.  Where applicable, I've posted a link to the blog entry giving you more details.

Strangely enough, I went through and picked out my favorites from all the items I shot pictures of in 2011 and they were all in fairly distinct categories.  I didn't have to choose between favorites in the same category, which is nice. 

Let's start with dessert first:

Best Dessert 

RJ Cooper, owner and chef of Rogue 24, sent this to our table towards the end of our 24-course tasting menu.  The flavor combination here was astounding.  Everyone in our party gushed.

Best Freebie on the Table 

This is the truffled pop-over from Kevin Sbraga's eponymous restaurant in Philly.  Crispy, tender, flaky, warm, and stinking of truffles.  Don't get me started.

Best Counter Service Chicken 

Outstanding Peruvian chicken is hard to find.  A lot of it is good, but there are only a couple that are superlative.  Super Chicken is the winner in the DMV.  The customer service is great, the sides are not an after-thought as they are in most other places like this, and the chicken is so good it makes you drop the knife and fork and pick it up with your hands.

Best Appetizer....by far 

Fiola,  Fabio Trabocchi's restaurant in DC, is a quiet return to some upper-end dining.  The bar can get lively, but I think of this place as a temple to this dish.  This is all I want when I go there.  Fois Gras, perfectly seared, over a buttery brioche.  There was some fruity element and a balsamic glaze.  This is not on the menu anymore, but I'm sure there will be another iteration of it there soon.

Best Pasta

The person who created this occupies 20% of my top 10.  Chef Mike Isabella.  The is the sweet corn stuffed agnolotti which he was showcasing when the restaurant first opened.  I've posted twice about this restaurant.  The first was here.

Best Pizza.  Ever. 

It doesn't matter who I'm with or what else we're having:  If I'm at Graffiato after 5:00pm I have to order one of the Countryman Pizzas.  Here is a link to the second post I did about this restaurant when I had the pleasure of trying the tasting menu.

Best Comfort Food 

Comfort food doesn't have to be Mac n' Cheese.  That's American comfort food.  Other cultures have comfort food too, and it doesn't have to be full of fat and cheese.  Not that I'm knocking fat and cheese, but I loves me a #12 at Pho 75 on Rockville Pike.  I checked my stats on Foursquare and Yelp, and I've been here, for this dish, over 40 times in 2011.  Crazy.  My neighbors and I live 10+ miles from this place, but we run into each other there.  We like it that much.

Best Side Dish

I'm not sure how else to describe the Palak Chaat dish properly. Vikram Sunderam pulls together many flavor and creates this wonder at Rasika.  I could go there, have a plate of this, and leave satisfied. 

Best Cheese Course 

I miss this dish, and the man who created it, Roberto Donna.  I'm hoping to see him back at work somewhere soon.

  The Budino Parmiggiano.  This was a different presentation than the one in my original post, but it made a better picture.  Sublime.

Best Home Cookin' Feature 

As readers of my blog know, I sometimes take on a home cooking project and post about it.  This was the tastiest adventure of the year.  Shrimp and Grits, using a recipe posted by RJ Cooper on StarChefs.  I made it for a party my wife was attending and this was the test run.  Salty/creamy with layers of acid and flavor.  One of my best, if I do say so myself.

It was a good year for food and restaurants in the DMV.  2012 should prove exciting as well.  Please be sure to stay tuned for more posts on this and my other blog, POSmelson where I post information about the issues, tools, tricks, and technology behind and involving restaurants.  As always, your comments, forwards, retweets, and emails are appreciated.

See you next year.