Brain Power---Top Ten of 2011 #6

Cashion's Eat Place has long since lost its namesake chef, Ann Cashion. But it has not lost lost her daring and inventive take on cutting-edge American food. The perfect example is the crispy lamb's brain appetizer. Three or four crunchy nuggets filled with unctuous, slippery, brain. Served simply with a lemon wedge and a citrus aioli, it's the kind of dish that you won't soon forget, no matter how hard you try. It helps keep the menu fresh, and is also a great conversation starter. You go first....Slurp.

Smoking Roofies---Top Ten of 2011 #7, Best habit you can't break...

Whether you consider it declassé or recherche, smoking goes with drinking like Plymouth goes with Dolin.  There aren't many places left in DC where you can light up these days, but here are three rooftops where you can not only practice your languid looks, but also work on your smoke rings.

At Perry's in Adams Morgan, the menu has been revamped by legendary baker/chef Mark Furstenburg (Marvelous Market, Breadline, G Street Food). Starters like jumbo lump crab cakes with homemade cole slaw; and chicken fritters, crunchy on the outside, light and creamy on the inside, remind me of Gerona. The sushi has also been re-thought, with more emphasis placed on fresh, seasonal ingredients like sockeye salmon and soft-shell crabs. To accompany, the 22-ounce 'silver can' of Sapporo just seems so right.

Also in Adams Morgan, the rooftop at the Reef has a few tasty bites. Try the pork belly sliders, crispy hunks of meaty über-pork on twin mini-brioche buns, with pineapple slaw and fried yucca sticks. Or play it safe with the all-natural grass-fed bison burger-part of a sustainability concept that has been the Reef's menu philosophy since its inception-back before 'green' was cool. It is one of the best burgers in town.

Marvin. Three words: Chicken and Waffles. 'Nuff said.



So remember: when the sun goes down, and the American Spirits are calling, it's time to go up to the roof. And who knows, you might even run into a celebrity or two.

Top Ten of 2011 #8 Best Trend-Pizza and a Pint

Need a drink and a slice but don’t want to spend too much money? Try the chef-driven Radius Pizza in Mt. Pleasant where on Monday nights, all day Saturday and Sunday, and 5-7PM the rest of the week, you can get a satisfying cheese slice and a pint for $5. Try the Silver Spring-brewed Hook and Ladder ‘Backdraft Brown’, and feel free to add toppings to your slice for 50 cents each. Stay alert by watching foodie programming on the big flat screen behind the bar.


In Columbia Heights, Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza serves you a pint of Moretti and a cheese slice for $5-two servings of Italy for the price of one. From 4-6:30, Monday-Friday, you can try the crusty and chewy specialty pronounced a-BEETS, and even sit outside with a smoke. Neighborhood-y decor keeps the prices low.

At Pizzeria Paradiso, the beer’s the thing, although the pizza is damn fine too. At happy hour on Tuesday and Wednesday, from 5-7PM, sample from over a dozen drafts at half-price, including oddities like Flying Dog Gonzo Porter, Victory Hop Wallop, and Yeti; and slurp $10 pizzas (enough for two) like the Bottarga, with a poached egg or two on top of a garlicky parmesan round, or the Genovese, with potato, pesto, and cheese. Good thing you got in that jog this morning, right?

Top Ten of 2011....#9 Holiday Wine Tasting Party

The best thing about the holidays is the free pass to get hammered and pass out on the carpet.  Wait, you don't get that?  But you must serve alcohol, and plenty of it, so maybe thinking while you're drinking is a measured way to steadily increase the buzz while maintaining awareness.  I help my guests (and myself) to remain alert by serving several different wines and asking everyone to join in a tasting.  'Tasting' sounds a lot classier than 'swigging', and everyone seems to get into the spirit of the game.  So instead of twelve bottles of the same old thing, I buy a case of different bottles, and make sure everyone gets a taste of each, and I get a comment about each wine.  Just tell them it's for a school project.

Starting with the bubbly, the favorite this year was Albrecht's Rose.  It is a Cremant from Alsace, which means they use the Champagne method but are not from Champagne.  Translation?  French, but cheap.  About $16, and they also do a Blanc de Blancs, which is a little less festive, but also a little crispier.  You will need at least two bottles anyway, so at these prices, why not buy both for New Year's Eve and 'compare'?  Get the picture?

The three wines that stood out the most, i.e., that anyone remembered, were a Malbec, a Chianti, and a Bourdeaux.  Starting from #3, from the Baron de Rothschild Collection, from the grand year of 2009, a 'special reserve' that started the evening but still left an impression after all the wine (and guests) was drunk.  An earthy taste, that opened up (got better) as it got some air, and paired well with some Marlboro Lights.  And some beer nuts. Classy crowd.

At #2, an Argentinian Malbec from Rutini, that we all agreed would go best with a steak (when I say 'all agreed', I mean that is what I thought, and then I belligerently badgered everyone until they all just agreed with me to shut me up-happens more than you would think.  I mean, everyone knows I'm a pussycat.  I answer politely when someone asks directions to the White House, and even demonstrate to tourists how to pluck their Metro card from the slot when they go through the 'handicap' turnstile-Just pull it out where you shoved it in!  Now walk through.  Walk, dammit!  Jeez, some of us have jobs to get to.  And hold on to your snotty kid.  But I digest.)  The Malbec was good, as I was saying, a real meaty food wine but also went down nice with some pumpkin pie and some cake from the neighbor (who happens to be from Argentina-coincidence?  Perhaps...)

Tops was an awesome Chianti Classico that everyone loved (don't get me started).  'La Vendemmia' from Dievole (2007-I only mention the years, by the way, to annoy people-don't worry, no one knows what they mean).  Classico means it is better than regular Chianti, and really worth the step up in price-just a few dollars more.  The wine is made mostly from Sangiovese, a grape that the Italians have made love to insistently for years, until it has become their mistress.  Not literally, of course.  This wine was drunk with dinner, which consisted of cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, pork loin, and a classic jello treat.  Classed up the place to no end, and started us all on the 'classico' family story-telling that a few bottles of good wine can only help.

For example, there was the time this past October that my brother and I drove up to New York to see our mother, Minnie, for her birthday.  We got stuck in traffic and arrived about 1:30AM.  Luckily my brother had brought several bottles of wine, but of course my mom had no corkscrew.  "You brought wine but no corkscrew?" I shrieked.  "I thought Minnie would have a corkscrew," he cried. " No one named Minnie has a corkscrew!" I replied, and began to sob.  Stuck on Long Island in the middle of the night...sober?  We both sobbed.  Then we steeled ourselves, and headed into the finished basement where our father's ancient workbench held all manner of tools.  This is what we found (pictured below), and after we got the bottle open with just a minimum of spillage onto the floor (it mostly ended up, miraculously, on our shirts), we toasted to family, and to The Mothers of Invention, as we slammed down that first, satisfying, jelly-glass full of wine.  A perfect holiday story, and we also learned something important, kids-how to open a wine bottle with a hatchet.  Cheers!

Hatchet and mysterious drill/boring tool...

Ooh look, bras are on sale...