annual reassurance that spring is truly here, the arrival of soft shell crabs is quite possibly my favorite thing… served here with spinach fettuccine, crispy country ham, and lemon-garlic butter. yum!
ossabaw dinner pics link…
many, many, many thanks to our friend and photographer ANDREA HUBBELL, who so kindly photographed our event, and made a gorgeous blog post with her work. THANK YOU!
check out more of her work at BEYOND THE FLAVOR…

charleston rocks!
2 days, 14 eat/drink establishments, more good food than i can remember, more laughs than ive had since i was 12, GOOD TIMES! much love and thanks to jeremiah langhorne, chef de cuisine of mccrady’s, my travel partners josh and ben, and our badass pilot andy cordonnier. a weekend we’ll revisit for years to come. cheers!

rockfish “bottarga”?
it was looking good until kate got a hold of it.. oh well, we’ll try again next year, right chef?!

chef’s night…
- yeah, we drank a little bit of wine…
- a fine meal compliments of chef mark otis
last week, chef mark otis hosted a crew of cooks at his place. a great, late night meal served to a raucous crowd. bravo mark, a job well done!
a pretty cool tradition we seem to be falling into. thanks for all those who have hosted, contributed, and shared their passion with us… cheers!

ossabaw
there are few things that get chefs as fired up as arguing over which breeds of pork taste the best… thanks to my old friend and colleague nathan anda, chef/proprietor of www.redapronbutchery.com , “chef’s night” last night included a taste of some locally raised ossabaw pork that he is working with from bev eggleston of ecofriendly foods. a breed of pig that was let loose on ossabaw island georgia in the 16th century by spanish explorers, it has an unusually high fat to meat ratio, and is exceptionally succulent, moist and delicious… coming soon to a restaurant near you!

farm food voices 2011
- get on the bus!
- washingtonian head-turner
- kennedy caucus room
- really cool architecture
- that’s a sign
- those are stairs
- trying to get my act together
- the ever present press
- polyface pig roast by main event caterers
- lamb by volt
i was proud to be involved in this awesome event. i met some great people. i heard some great stories. i tasted some great food. i can’t wait to do it again next year…
a little bit about the event: http://hartkeisonline.com/food-politics/report-on-farm-food-voices-2011/
a little bit more: http://www.examiner.com/dc-in-washington-dc/washington-dc-area-chefs-set-up-shop-on-capitol-hill-support-of-local-farmers
for more info: www.nicfa.org
it was a pretty cool feeling walking the halls of the russell senate building at the close of the event. seeing the former offices of kennedy and nixon… it was nice to visit again (think high school us gov’t class field trip), and be old enough to appreciate what i was seeing, clearly, foR the first time. REALLY COOL.
🙂

gary nabhan and uva food collaborative
Last week we were privledged to host a dinner in honor of Mr. Gary Nabhan, author, historian, and local foods champion of the southwest. This dinner followed an event at UVA with the UVA Food Collaborative , where Mr. Nabhan spoke and signed copies of his new book.
We tried to show him some of the best foods of the central virginia region…
- hh farms pork belly & shank, creamy & puffed grits, crispy sweet potato
- rag mountain trout stuffed with shrimp
- trout, sauteed grits cake, brussels, bacon butter
- polyface farms chicken wrapped in homemade chicken chorizo
- polyface chicken served with “scritti di lucca” beans and butternut puree
as usual, i forgot to get a picture of the dessert…
warm banana bread pudding, maker’s mark hard sauce and caramel
many thanks to all who attended and helped along the way! 🙂

Golden Tilefish
it’s always a treat when we get our hands on something a little less common on restaurant menus. chris arsenault called me with tilefish this week and if you havent had this fish before, youre missing out. tender, flaky, moist, very reminiscent of grouper.
crusted with fennel, mustard, cumin, espelette, on top of quinoa, millet, capers, raisins, olives and pine nuts, cauliflower coulis, lemon and olive oil.
