National Food Press

[Anna Blume]

The new issue of Gourmet (October 2007) offers its annual theme on restaurants.

I glanced at it only briefly last night, but it looks as if the old tradition of chosing the best restaurants in the U.S. has ended; the lists tended to defer to readers throughout the country with geographic distribution that wasn't all concentrated around New York and Los Angeles.

This time, the locavore trend get a nod, instead, so that regionalism and geographic distribution are tied to the restaurant's relationship to local farms and foods.

Some of the establishments are highlighted with short texts. Stark black & white photographs with fold-out spreads feature rugged individuals who haul, hoe, pour and mold for chefs such as Alice Waters and Dan Barber: farmers and modern artisans with lined faces and wardrobes chosen by stylists.

Cathal Armstrong's Restaurant Eve represents our neck of the woods. (Congratulations!) However, it's simply called "Eve" with the three letters in bold-face. No mention of the chef, farms, description... I didn't see any other references to other places around here. It's not the only item offered without commentary, but Blue Hill's Dan Barber (NYC), for example, gets a write-up, a spot in an ad, and a byline in a (cute) feature article.

I think Gourmet has covered Michel Richard in the past. I'm just wondering if the whiney title I gave this thread is perceptive or Sour Grapes.

Moderators: Feel free to move this, tag it onto something established....Just notify me so I revise the last two sentences above this one.

[oliveDC]

Be sure to pick up the November issue of Food&Wine!

[ulysses]

The new issue of Gourmet (October 2007) offers its annual theme on restaurants.

I glanced at it only briefly last night, but it looks as if the old tradition of chosing the best restaurants in the U.S. has ended; the lists tended to defer to readers throughout the country with geographic distribution that wasn't all concentrated around New York and Los Angeles.

This time, the locavore trend get a nod, instead, so that regionalism and geographic distribution are tied to the restaurant's relationship to local farms and foods.

Moderators: Feel free to move this, tag it onto something established....Just notify me so I revise the last two sentences above this one.

I'm a little upset that they didn't mention Chefs Ruta or Trautmann. Both of these guys have great relationships with local growers/mycologists/farmers; not that Ziebold and Armstrong don't. I know for a fact that Palena and Sonoma/Mendocino have whole lambs/pigs/ducks, dayboat cod and foraged mushrooms delivered to their restaurants.

In my last three visits to other major metropolitan cities I've always dined at a "flagship" restaurant and I feel that those meals were on par with some mediocre meals I've had here. Now thats not to say that they are not as good as DC on the whole, it's just that we might have a little more awesomeness than the national food media lets on. So to answer your question...no, I don't think D.C. is getting its props.

[Anna Blume]

Thanks for the heads-up on Food & Wine!!

As for the issue of Gourmet, I formed my opinion prematurely, late at night without even looking closely at the bylines of feature articles.

Turns out Phyllis Richman wrote a very interesting piece on mentoring a South African chef she got to know while visiting family and dining in his restaurant. Email correspondence led to a month-long stay here in D.C. where he staged at The Inn @LW, Citronelle, CityZen & Palena and visited the farmer's market at Dupont Circle. A foreigner's praise of the high quality of local ingredients and their use serves as a unifying theme in paying homage to each chef of the four restaurants.