RJ Cooper

Oh I forgot, add a touch of lemon juice and always season with salt and pepper

Thank you and congratulations on your upcoming son. The endive is quite simplei n preparation: split the endive in half with the core still attached. In a heavy bottom pan add some butter, honey, scraped vanilla bean, thyme, bay leaf, rosemary, and chicken stock just to cover the endives, bring to a moderate boil and place into a 400 degree oven, braise for 30 minutes. Remove the endives and reduce the liquid to glaze the endive when plating.

Rocks I will give you a dozen donuts, i ate nothing last night and since i have moved into the burbs, i have to cook at home now

Great food and wine night tonight, great people and a lot of locals - ty for your support. On to your questions, My wife and I have identical twin girls at home that are 10 months old and trying to cook is like wrestling calves at a rodeo.....When I am cooking I keep it simple, last menu bibb lettuce from the market with corn, beets, vidalia onions, warm bacon (yes have to have pig) apple vinaigtette. Fresh pasta and clam sauce, strawberries with vanilla-creme fraiche and 50 yr old balsamico. Staff meal varies from day to day: pb&j (a staff fav!!!!!!! right Dougie?), macaroni bakes, chicken wings, we tend to use bi-productss to make ragouts etc. The staff eats well and we do tend on a miss order to feed the managers. Chef Buben has a open mind - anything goes!!!!!!! If it doesnt work, feature it!!!!!!

My sous chef Harper's fiancee is a vegan and as much as it "pains" chefs to cook for vegans, we find it an extremely educational exchange of thoughts and ideas to deliver to vegetarians. The process to chose and to marry contrasting and familiar flavors in the vegetable world is much harder than it is to say lamb and mint, pork and apples, beef and potatoes. Socially we have to adapt to the seasons' great vegetables and learn the proper methods and techinques to extract their characteristic flavors. All our moms said eat your vegetables, and there is a reason why.

There are so many places, what's available at the markets, fish mongers who call you at 3 am saying they just got the most beautiful fish, the farmers coops now have a centralized delivery service and the meats are so fresh and tasty that its hard not to change from what you would buy in the local grocery store. My staff both front and back give great feedback on the thoughts of the guests. I have a weekly menu meeting with Caitlin about pastry ideas, my sous chefs Harper, Bull and Anne, I will come up with some wacky ideas and they will help to bring them to life. Chef Buben is a great foundation to bounce food ideas off of, then I talk to Mike, Doug and Khoa in the front to see if the ideas will work in there. TEAM EFFORT is what we live by here. Your next question is one that is frequently asked: On the menu we just started I have been surprised by the popularity of some dishes: Octopus salad, the baby lamb, the skate.

Also when I get off the plane in Detroit I head to the Lafayette Coney Island then to Greens hamburgers then to Grandmas and she always says "I'm still third on your list of stops!!!!! when you get into town."

Dude trippy, there are so many, when we rode to Sturgis last year I started in 69 and when we arrived I was at 76 and when we made it home I think its was 91. But the best show was the last show I saw in Chicago before leaving to Atlanta, Have a great move!!!!!!!!!

Great question Scott - salts have become more trendy then micro greens......and of course we have many different salts from around the world as well we do our own infusions of salts i.e. juniper and sel gris for pork belly, madagascar vanilla and maldon sea salt for foie gras. We are shaving himalayan rock salt at the table, hawaiian sea salt goes onto our butter for the table, the list goes on and on. We generally cook with kosher it has a great feel in your fingers to season. I have had endless discussions with my wife about the fate of foie gras.......The firm she is associated with lobbies for the foie gras industry in the US. Of course i can see both sides of the argument have valid points, but we should still be able to serve our guests what the wanty and let him/her make the choice to order it or not.

Having fun in the kitchen, watching my two beautiful twin daughters growing up, and cruising on a fat harley davidson

I respect your comments about the blue plate, however each dish in the quadrent is designed centrally around what we have picked up in market. Some days we do offer a small risotto with sweet corn or peas etc., to sweet and sour radishes, mile feuille of roasted shiitakes and brads goat cheese. We try to use the vegetable as a "center of the plate" item much as you would use any protein. This plate was designed to give vegetarians a wider arrange of flavors to try, rather then a singular dish.

Of course Jake you would know, you have had some of those pigs ear tacos. Ben's was an old stomping ground for Mike. A tear still comes to his eyes when he talks about the closing of that pit.

Seasonally I am biased to all but winter.......because I can get on the motorcycle and get to the farms. There are exciting products thoughout the year. We have a saying that there are not four seasons, there are twelve. The product differs from November to March, April to June etc., and you have to adapt and change with the best product that is out there.

The first time I met Mike with Chef when I did my tasting, I saw a man that was so deeply committed to the movement what is Vidalia ( and I say movement because it evolves). He and Chef have been together longer then most marriages. Mike is that great sports GM that knows how to get the right players, put them into the right scheme and make them extremely successful. His knowledge and experience is without question among tops in this country. If you have ever seen and enjoyed being Mike's guest while eating you know that he is extremely passionate about food. He and Chef have been talking about that taqueria for some time now. He has brought me pupusas and he said when he left there were four and when he hit the door there was one. They are freaking good. I will find out the name from him and pass it along. One of the great advatages of this site is the "hole in the wall" restaurants everyone eats at that shows that this area has some deep rooted ethnic foods that are beaming to break out.

ty nadia, the bread is addictive at Vidalia, our bakers Nelson Ramerez and Yobana Suarez has been with Chef Buben and Vidalia from when they openned the door. He is extremely talented at crafting the breads as well as producing wonderful pastries with Caitlin.

We all should feel very fortunate that the economy in the Metro DC area has not slipped as in other parts of the nation. We have an infrastructure that is sound to support our craft . It is unfortunate that a restaurant like Normans has closed, He is and will be a legend in this country, bringing that riff of the flavors of the islands. So you have to drive to Orlando now to eat his food.

Doug Mohr has done great things with the program here. His passion shows in the staff and with the pairings we do with food. The program was started with an idea to use the talents of both Doug and Mike to not only educate but to introduce wine to a braoder range of guest at Vidalia and it has blossomed into a vary strong social event. Their are some "Rockheads" that come in and ask for the "Mini Cooper" - a term that Don started, and then it becomes even a bigger party.

We put a parpadelle dish on the summer menu with rabbit ragout that reminds me of something she did along time ago. I still make gnocchi like she does.

I still source thourghout the year from Alaska. Robert Wiedmeir (yes dude I know I still can't spell your name) my friend, motorcycle bud, and one of the best cooks in DC, he and I throw out "I can get this from so and so!" and visa versa. The beauty of Alaska was that the fishmonger would fly a float plane into the inlet and the fish would still be alive. The produce was amazing up there. A short growing season but Alaska is a rain forest so the state gets lots of rain - and sun for 20 hours a day helps. In the winter, FEDEX was a good friend.

A great question. Chef Buben has taught me the true way to be successful in this business is to have a legacy. If you follow the DC dining scene (which I know you all do) he has one of the greates legacies in this city and country. When cooks apply for a position my first question is, "Is cooking going to be a lifestyle or a job?" This is truly a lifestyle career where you spend hours with your staff and to teach them all you can to produce these crazy food ideas. We dont "haze" we leave that for the Academies, but we put our applicants through a process called Stage or Stagier to see if he/she fits into our philosophies on cooking. Our team rotates every menu change, it just ups the bar for us to get everyone cross trained.

They are to be cooked. I have to look at the recipe they published because my recipe says to add them with the bacon after rendering to extract the earthy flavors.

I belive that the state of DC culinary scene is very well rooted for an extremely long time. They are all doing a great job and giving inspiration to us all.

Well Pete, we have just completed a 99% menu change with an overhaul of the shrimp and grits. This menu is one that is extremely laborious for the staff but simple in presentation. We have gone all out in search of products from the region using great local growers, fishmongers, herdsmen and cattlemen to bring to the table for our guests.

Well Grover, As you have dined many times with us here at Vidalia, our food stays pretty much with our region......Although the simplicty, elegance and discapline of Asian cuisines fall into my every day philosophy of food. I love to work with fresh raw seafood and meats when they are at there most pristine, simply adding flavors that accentuate their personalities. It is a question that I am asked often, however, and difficult to answer.

Okay, I'll set the record straight..........I started in October of 2004.......1 week after Pete's departure. The team at Vidalia humbbly thanks all for the commnets whether good or bad. We also thank all the "ROCKHEADS" for there support. RJ