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Jose Andres on Iron Chef America


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As Far as 1990 Jose was probaly still cooking at El Dorado Petite! Not anywhere near the Penn Quater. The Jaleo on 7th was all the Idea of Roberto Alvarez and no one else (maybe Ann Cashion was involved). The Props of Revitalizing Penn Quater should be givin to only Roberto Alvarez not Jose R. Andres!

The early history of Jaleo may have gotten murky in the celebrity-chef personality cult of Jose Andres. Who, by the way, is a friend of mine, whom I consider a culinary genius. Or madman, if there's a difference. He's also one of two restaurant chefs who I've actually dared to cook for - the other being Ann Cashion, who, if memory serves, was the original chef at Jaleo. Previously she had won acclaim at the original Austin Grill, which was owned by Rob Wilder, who became Roberto Alvarez' business partner in Jaleo, later Zaytinya and the empire. (Roberto, a longtime human rights activist, has since gone on to a diplomatic career as the Dominican Republic's ambassador to the Organization of American States, where, so I hear, he is distinguishing himself again, as one would expect.)

Roberto Alvarez spoke often and movingly of his desire to open his restaurants in neighborhoods that were run down but prime for revival. That's why he moved Atlantico from Adams Morgan to what later became Penn Quarter, and why he and Wilder opened Jaleo where they did, and later Zaytinya. Say what you want about Bethesda and Crystal City. :blink: So yes, the Alvarez-Wilder team deserves credit for the revitalization of Penn Quarter. But so does Abe Pollin. So do the Wizards, and the Caps.

Jose is indeed a great restaurateur. But he's had the support of two other great restaurateurs - Alvarez and Wilder. And he's had a wonderful supporting cast - Tony Yelamos, for example, who oversees the empire from a management perspective and has been in charge of the wine lists for years. He helped expand the retail market for Spanish wines by pointing importers to up and coming producers whose wines he wanted to feature at Jaleo.

There are others - Todd Thrasher and his wife, Maria, are perhaps the most notable on this board, who have come through the Proximo/ThinkFoodGroup network (OK, they open great restaurants, but they suck at corporate names). And there will be others.

Now I'll get off my soapbox and return to my usual, circumspect lurking ways. But you guys are talking about friends of mine, so I wanted to chime in.

ETA:

dinner at Big Wong!

Hmm, sounds like a worthy restaurant review for DC magazine's "lust" issue in June! ;)

ETA:

Sheesh, I who'd like an owl in that first graf ... :P

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And the Insect Club. Don't forget the Insect Club. I think they went under when most of the bartenders were engaging in back-door trade.

Big Wong...ah yes. That was a fine dining destination. Nothing like crunching through syringes and whippit canisters on the way to dinner.

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Where artists go, boutiques and trendy restaurants follow. Witness SoHo in the go-go '80s, followed by the rise and fall of the East Village scene and now Chelsea and the meat packing district.

In DC in the late 70s-early 80's, Nancy Drysdale, Harry Lunn, Franz Bader, Ramon Osuna, and later Barbara Kornblatt, Jane Haslam and David Adamson all opened up galleries downtown. Alot of them were in the 406 building on 7th Street. Zenith and the Washington Project for the Arts were right nearby. After the 406 Building cohort broke up, most of them moved toward the Dupont Circle area and/or retired/closed. There are still commercial galleries there, just like in Soho, but just like SoHo, there's a lot of schlock, and it can't really be called an art district anymore. Rents are too high for most artists to have space there anymore.

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Regardless of whether or not one enjoys/abhorrs Bobby Flay's cooking, doesn't any frequent D.C. restaurant goer have to take a little pride in the fact that a D.C. chef bitch slapped a guy like Bobby Flay on national television?

Bobby Flay: "Hey, who's got my green oil? Someone throw some parsley in a blender and make me some green oil!"

Jose Andres: "I've got your Throwdown hangin' low, Booby"

And besides Jose Andres, chef Katsuya should get a shout out as well. You could hear Jose ask his advice on dishes a couple times during the taping. Every time I've had the pleasure of talking to Katsuya at Atlantico he's been very friendly and down to earth.

Did anyone hear what the purple flowers were that Jose used in the cauliflower and yogurt dishes? They were gorgeous.

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If you could take a trip in the wayback machine to 9th street NW, circa 1986 or so, you would find peep shows, wig shops, boarded-up buildings, nightclubs, and drug dealers instead of a farmer's market, condos, museums, fine dining restaurants, and a big new arena.
Man, I miss out on the all the good stuff. First, the guilt free sex of the late 60s, Led Zeppelin in the 70s, and now this.
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Regardless of whether or not one enjoys/abhorrs Bobby Flay's cooking, doesn't any frequent D.C. restaurant goer have to take a little pride in the fact that a D.C. chef bitch slapped a guy like Bobby Flay on national television?

It'll always be a bit tainted in my mind by the fact that he didn't use the provided ingredient in his dessert. On the original Iron Chef, you can bet they would have at least incorporated goat stock into the mix before shoving it into the Pacojet.

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It'll always be a bit tainted in my mind by the fact that he didn't use the provided ingredient in his dessert. On the original Iron Chef, you can bet they would have at least incorporated goat stock into the mix before shoving it into the Pacojet.

Didn't he use goat's milk to make the ice cream?

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Didn't he use goat's milk to make the ice cream?

Yes, but no goat's milk was provided, only goat meat. Part of the thrill of the original show was watching them attempt to make something palatable using the theme ingredient for every course. But then again, they also weren't under a mandate to make a fixed number of dishes.

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