Food & Wine

Corrie Dyke • January 23, 2014

Diners around the region gear up for a week of eating their way through Washington, as Winter Restaurant Week 2014 kicks off today with a record-breaking 250 participating restaurants. Continuing through Sunday, Jan. 19, area restaurants offer a three-course pre-fixe lunch for $20.14 and dinner for $35.14.

The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington represents members of the growing restaurant industry in the District, Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland and showcases Restaurant Week bi-annually every summer and winter encouraging diners to “Dine Out. Eat Up.”

This year, 20 Georgetown restaurants are participating, including classics like Café Milano (3251 Prospect St., NW) and first time participators Luke’s Lobster (1211 Potomac St., NW). Most restaurants feature special menus for the seven days of foodie heaven, giving diners a unique chance to try an old favorite or explore something new.

“Restaurant week offers a great promotion for our regional diners to dine out and try many new and existing restaurants around town,” said RAMW president and CEO Kathy Hollinger.

New for Winter Restaurant Week 2014 is a guidebook full of reviews from Open Table on the participating restaurants. The book is available at a number of D.C. hotels and can help narrow down the overwhelming number of choices for the week.

If looking for something new, a few restaurants in the District are making their debut to Restaurant Week that includes Mike Isabella’s Kapnos and G (2201 14th St., NW), Alba Osteria (425 Eye St., NW), the Arsenal (300 Tingey St., SE) and Teddy & the Bully Bar (1200 19th St., NW).

Another addition is the “Try Something New in 2014” contest. Through Restaurant Week’s partner NBC4, diners who “Like” NBC4 on Facebook will be entered to win a prize package, including lunch for two at J&G Steakhouse and two “Blissage 75″ massages at Bliss Spa, both located within the W Hotel on 15th Street, NW.

Sponsors of Restaurant Week include Meat and Livestock Australia, Cuisine Solutions, Open Table and American Express. Media partners include NBC4, 94.7 Fresh FM and D.C. Modern Luxury.

Gary Tischler • January 17, 2014

Zubair Popal thinks for a moment before talking about the role of
his older son Omar in the family’s
restaurant and culinary ventures.
Zubair had arrived later to the
ongoing interview, finally coming
out of a major traffic tie-up on Key Bridge and
into Georgetown.

“Omar,” he said, “he is the man with the
ideas. He’s the ideas guy, the vision person, as
well as making things happen, being there all
the time.”

We’re sitting in Malmaison, the Popal family’s
newest restaurant at 3401 K Street, and
something of a radical departure from its predecessors,
Cafe Bonaparte on Wisconsin Avenue in
Georgetown and Napoleon Bistro on Columbia
Road in Adams Morgan, but not in terms of cuisine,
all do feature French-styled food.

Malmaison, named after the first home of
French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his
wife Josephine just outside Paris, is full of ideas.
It opened quietly in January as an events site but
is now fully loaded as a functioning restaurant
and cafe. It also comes with the participation of
big culinary and design names. It is a sophisticated
as well as comfortable place.

There’s a bit of a chameleon quality to it all,
a 50-seat restaurant from which you can look
out straight by Key Bridge, the Potomac River
and a stretch of as yet undeveloped land, with
Georgetown Waterfront Park to your left. As far
as ideas go, Malmaison, translated literally as
“bad house,” is bigger, open-ended and electric
with possibilities and opportunities.

The doors lead into an expansive multifaceted
space: cafe-bakery, detox juices and
good cup of early coffee for runners and casual
customers, restaurant for lunch and dinner, and
an events-bar-club space in the mezzanine with
the Whitehurst Freeway overhead as a kind of
humming presence.

Zubair Popal exudes a kind of old-world
charm which he probably brought with him
from his days working with InterContinental
Hotels in Kabul, Afghanistan. His son Omar
has the focused intensity of a man quite capable
of multi-tasking, thinking on his feet, the phone
ringing periodically, working out ideas as he
goes along, paying attention to details. “With
Malmaison, we went a lot further than before in
terms of a space,” Omar Popal said. “It’s French
cuisine, it’s cosmpolitan, it’s sophisticated. In
terms of the bar and the mezzanine space, we can
use it for anything, really. It’s a gathering place
at night, a space where you can have exhibitions,
weddings, anniversaries, charity events, the kind
of space where you can bring together music,
culture, people, in a very urban and urbane way.”

A measure of both the ambition and care with
which the Popals approached putting together
Malmaison is the fact that while the menus are
small, and the restaurant seats only 50, there
are major league culinary and design players
involved. World-class, much-honored French
chef Gerard Pangaud is the Malmaison consulting
chef, and chef Serge Torres has designed and
oversees the pastry menu, an important part of
any French culinary establishment. See chocolate
bomb with passion fruit sauce.

Pangaud is famous for creating and operating
top-notch French restaurants in Paris, New York
and Washington and has the added serendipitous
affinity of growing up only steps away from the
original Château de Malmaison in France.

Torres came from the South of France to the United States and worked with his cousin Jacques Torres at Le Cirque in New York City.

Clearly, days are both relaxed and busy at Malmaison. You can enjoy a light lunch –the duck confit salad, rapidly becoming a signature offering here, followed by a delicious dessert, or a recommendation by sage waiter Ben Jamil from Morocco.
The atmosphere is contemporary, a very now and forward moving vibe of endless possibilities, but it doesn’t speak to the journey that brought the family Popal to this juncture.

Omar Popal always talks about the family — not just as a family but also as a team united in their endeavors. “It’s not exactly us against the world but us making our way in the world together,” he said. “Us,” being father Zubair, mother Shamim, oldest brother Mustafa, then Omar, and sister Fatima, both with the U.S. State Department. Fatima Popal had been working with mobile banks in Afghanistan.

“I know everybody thinks of Afghanistan in terms of the wars and conflicts, which are still going on,” Omar said. “But my parents lived in Kabul at a different time.”

“Back then, I was working with InterContinental Hotels,” Zubair said. “I had done well there, and Kabul was different then. It was more cosmopolitan then, and lots of Europeans either came there or lived there. It was more European than anything.”
But conflict and war — the invasion by the Soviet Union in 1979 and all the wars that followed — changed all that.
“I decided that it was too dangerous for me and my family, and I left and brought them all out later,” Zubair said. There were stops in India, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates where he once again took up the hotel business.
“But we finally came to the United States, and we all ended up in Northern Virginia in Fairfax County,” he said. “I sold cars with Bob Rosenthal.” Northern Virginia, in fact, hosts a large Afghan community.

The Popals did well, and always, he and his wife emphasized education — all the siblings have degrees, went to school, and did extremely well in various careers. Omar was working with Merrill Lynch when he, his brother and sister came up with the idea of opening a restaurant.

“To be honest, I thought it was a crazy idea,” his father said. “Even with working with hotels, I hadn’t entertained that thought.”
But Omar and his siblings convinced the parents who helped them launch Cafe Bonaparte in Georgetown in 2003. When they signed the lease, “it was an emotional occasion,” Zubair said. It was and remains a popular, classic Parisian-style coffee shop-creperie-bistro-restaurant.

Cafe Bonaparte was followed in 2007 by Napoleon Bistro on Çolumbia Road in Adams Morgan, a corner bistro with a thick menu, outdoor seating and an atmosphere more reflective of the diverse, culturally lively neighborhood surrounding it.

Six years after that — with both Napoleon Bistro and Cafe Bonaparte settled into their locations — came Malmaison, which, as the promotions say, brings “Parisian elegance and Meatpacking District style” to Georgetown. It’s also helping to continue the process of commercially repopulating K Street’s historic waterfront.

When you walk upstairs to the mezzanine, you appreciate the view but you can also imagine almost any occasion here. The industrial-style look is by Grizform Design Architects. There’s a state-of-the-art disc jockey booth, designed by Washington, D.C., DJ, artist and designer, Adrian Loving, along with DJ Ron Trent.

In some ways, Malmaison is a place that is open to transformation in terms of special events, but it has an inviting appeal for individuals, groups, couples and citizens in the French style, depending on the time of day or night.

“This is an international city,” Omar says. “There are all kinds of people, all kinds of flavors, all kinds of cultures. That’s part of what we had in mind.” [gallery ids="101392,154040,154037" nav="thumbs"]

Jordan Hellmuth •

Zeina Davis, event coordinator and marketing manager, wants to give each person a customized experience when he or she enters Malmaison. Being a family-run company gives Malmaison an extra je ne sais quoi.

“It is truly a family run business and each person within the family is involved with every aspect from the overall concept to the day to day functions,” says Davis. It is a team effort every step of the way, from preparation, to execution and follow-up.
Davis works to partner with Georgetown and D.C. businesses to bring a variety of open, ticket and private events to the chateau of cuisine that is Malmaison. As event coordinator and marketing manager, Davis is “involved in all operations outside of lunch and dinner.”

Malmaison is divided into trois (three) sections: the cafe, the dining room and the upper bar area. “The cafe runs as its own entity,” Davis says. She assures us that Malmaison is all about full-scale event planning, not just petite soirées.
Malmaison is equipped to host any type of event, from weddings to book signings, to wine tastings and more. The garage looking doors that lead into the quaint Parisian-style restaurant can be used as screens for Twitter feeds or general projector screens to meet the needs of a client.

“We’ll mold to whatever they’re asking for,” says Davis.
The restaurant is developing a music program to make its nightlife scene “more than just a fun night,” says Davis, who wants Malmaison to be seen as more than a restaurant. Its nightlife scene should not just be throwing a party just to throw a party. “It should be a cultural experience,” she says.

Davis wants for those having dinner at Malmaison to say, “I’d love to have an event here,” and those at an event to say, “I would love to have dinner here.”

Walter Nicholls •

There’s no time for small talk at the late morning start of Najmieh Batmanglij’s class in the art of Persian cuisine. On a recent Sunday morning, ten eager students surround the broad butcher-block island in the Iranian-American chef’s home kitchen, two short blocks from the main gate of Georgetown University. Over the next four and a half hours, the group will learn new knife skills, the how-to of grinding spices and help in the preparation of six dishes — from savory cardamom-scented beef pastries to sweet saffron-laced honey almond brittle. Let the chopping begin.

When the work is done, it will be time to take a seat in the chef’s art-filled dining room and pay due respects to a woman who has spent the past 30 years cooking, traveling and updating authentic recipes from her homeland. All in the group are owners of one or more of her seven cookbooks.

“Now, pick up a peeler . This eggplant will make your life easy,” instructs Batmanglij, as she waves a pale purple Asian variety of the fruit in the air. Unlike the more common broad glossy black cultivar, “It’s not bitter, has a delicate flavor and you don’t have to soak it in salt water.” Non-stop, experience and wisdom is shared. She will tell you that vinegar is her kitchen essential for rinsing vegetables, as well as cleaning counter tops. The stems of vegetables and herbs, such as parsley, have “the best food properties of the plant.” And, who knew that the addition of unripe grapes brings a unique tart accent to a chicken stew?

But this student could not help wandering off to the nearby rear French doors for a view of the lush garden with potted olive and orange trees as well as trellises dripping with thick assorted vines. A perfect oasis. Every interior wall holds treasures from her travels, from Middle Eastern relics to pressed glass pedestal serving pieces. The eyes need never stop.
I came away as a big fan of the chef’s recipe for doymaj — a terrific, healthy and easy-to-throw-together dip, perfect for summer entertaining, made with walnuts, goat cheese and handfuls of herbs. For scooping up the nutty/herbal goodness, serve with small Persian cucumbers (available at farmers markets and Whole Foods stores).

Batmanglij’s current favourite restaurants: Sushiko in Glover Park and Mintwood Place in Adams Morgan.

Doymaj: Cheese, Walnut, and Herb Dip

Ingredients:
1/2 pound goat feta cheese, rinsed and drained
2 cups walnuts, toasted
2 fresh spring onions, chopped
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup fresh tarragon leaves
2 cups fresh mint leaves
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:
1. In a food processor, place all the ingredients and pulse until you have a grainy paste.
2. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl.
Serve with triangles of pita bread, Persian cucumbers sliced on the diagonal and a chilled French Rose.
Note: To toast the nuts: Preheat oven to 350?F (180?C), place nuts on a baking sheet, and bake—10 minutes [gallery ids="101396,154099" nav="thumbs"]

Jody Kurash •

Peruvians are crazy for pisco. Not only is pisco, a grape brandy produced in Peru, the country’s national liquor, there are two public holidays celebrating its virtues. National Pisco Sour Day is celebrated during the first Saturday of February and National Pisco Day on the fourth Sunday of July. So one afternoon as I wandered the touristy corridor of Cuzco between the Plaza des Armes and San Blas, I wasn’t taken by surprise when I strolled by a storefront identifying itself as the Museo de Pisco (Pisco Museum). It seemed perfectly logical in this tourist mecca for a pisco museum to exist.

With its walls filled with diagrams, graphs and maps explaining the pisco-making process, distillation equipment on display, and a vast collection of bottles behind the bar, I was ready to spend a cultural day communing with this local elixir. It didn’t take long, however, to deduce that the Museo de Pisco was actually a bar disguised as a museum. This revelation did not sour my visit in any way.

While not official guides, I quickly realized that the bartending staff here had an encyclopedic knowledge about pisco and were eager to educate a gringa about their country’s pride and joy. Not only was I given a primer on the distillation process, but barman Ruben Dario educated me about the specific grape varietals used for pisco and the difference the each grape imparts on the finished product.

The bar stocks more than 40 brands of pisco, each of them with their own unique qualities. After asking several questions about the merits of different types, another bartender, Joe Rojas Garcia, was kind enough to offer me a taste of some of his favorites. As a resident of Peru, I had been drinking pisco for nine months at this point, but I had never taken the time to explore the subtle differences in various varieties.

While I was familiar with the most popular cocktails, pisco sour, Maracuayo sour (made from a local fruit), and Te Macho, (pisco and coca tea), I was instantly intrigued by the bar’s extensive cocktail menu.

Overwhelmed by all the choices, I asked Joe what he recommended. In a flirty move, he suggested the Cusquenita Linda, literally translated, “pretty little lady from Cusco.” The cocktail is a mixture of pisco, cassis, lime and aguaymanto juice.

Aguaymanto is a fruit native to Andean region of South America, also known as the capegooseberry, golden berry or Incan berry. It has a tart, yet slightly sweet, flavor. Herbalists have used it as a folk remedy for diabetes, inflammation and asthma.
Not being a fan of sweet drinks, the fruit mixture intrigued me. The red-orange drink was presented in a martini glass with a cheery star fruit garnish. The mixture of sharp Aguaymanto with the piquant blackcurrant flavor of the cassis and sour lime proved a fitting foil for the crisp, clean and tangy flavor of pisco. The overall result was a sublime and unique tipple that was captivating and refreshing at the same time.

As I savored my cocktail, a tour group arrived, and I was able to absorb another education lecture from their guide, as well as sip on a free sample of pisco punch, mixed with lime and pineapple, offered to the group. I also watched as another bartender prepared one of the many pisco infusions made in-house, which include morado (purple corn), eucalyptus, chili pepper and ginger.

It would be easy to spend an entire afternoon or evening at the Pisco Museum, engaging with the friendly staff and sampling the many delicacies. This year, Peru’s National Pisco day falls on July 28. Wherever you may be on that day, celebrate it with a South American pisco treat.

La Cusquenita Linda
2 oz Pisco
2 oz Aquaymanto juice
¼ oz Lime juice
¼ oz sugar
1 oz crème de Cassis
Mix ingredients in a shaker with ice, then pour into a martini glass. Garnish with star fruit. [gallery ids="101372,153206,153204" nav="thumbs"]

Walter Nicholls •

On Sunday evenings, when Nora Pouillon’s family and friends gather at her 1930s modern home near the Georgetown Library, guests often find a simmering pot of spicy lemon grass broth scenting the kitchen. “This bare stock is so versatile as a poaching liquid,” says Austrian-born Pouillon, co-owner of Restaurant Nora, America’s first certified organic eatery, near Dupont Circle. “For an appetizer, I quickly bring the broth to a boil, add raw shrimp or scallops and let them cool in the pot. They cook perfectly.”

In minutes, the Thai-inspired shellfish are ready to serve with mayonnaise infused with ginger or cilantro mayonnaise. Simple and delicious. “It’s really nice with that first glass of wine,” says the widely known pioneering chef, an early proponent of farmers markets and sustainable organic farming practices.

For private parties at Restaurant Nora, which opened in 1979, the same fragrant broth is the base for a popular entree of seared wild salmon, shitake mushrooms, Chinese cabbage and rice noodles. “It’s so easy to adapt the broth to your taste,” she says. “Add more or less lemon juice for citrus flavor, adjust the heat,” by discarding or using the seeds of the jalapeno peppers.

With farmers markets in Glover Park, Dupont Circle and Rose Park brimming with seasonal bounty, early summer is prime time for Pouillon’s favorite salad of Boston lettuce, mixed with roughly chopped parsley, chives, green onion and even mint. “I like to add spinach, frisee, julienned kale, and often, thinly sliced Persian cucumbers.” The more greens, from mellow or bitter, the better.

Her go-to dressing is “my daughter Nadia’s way,” with the juice of a fresh lime replacing, which she combines with two to four tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper. “It’s a very refreshing, flavorful salad with all the different herbs and the lime juice really brings out the flavors without contributing too much acid.”

Toned and glowing from a variety of daily workout routines, she is currently on the board of six environmental organizations and is working on a memoir. “It’s about what led me to become passionate about healthy food and lifestyle. I want people to take responsibility for their own health.”

Nora’s current favorite restaurants:
Estadio for contemporary Spanish
and Le Diplomate for French bistro fare, both are in Logan Circle.

SPICY LEMON GRASS STOCK
Ingredients:
5 lemon grass stalks, crushed and cut into 3-inch lengths
6-inch knob fresh ginger, sliced
1 bunch cilantro stems, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 jalapeno peppers, cut into half (with or without seeds to taste)
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon coriander seed
2 yellow onions, sliced
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
3 lemons, cut in half and squeezed (set aside
the juice; use oranges as substitute)
3 quarts cold water
2 cups white wine

Directions:
Place all the ingredients except lemon juice, water, and wine in a bowl and toss so that the oil is evenly distributed. Heat up a large saucepan to medium heat and add the ingredients, sautéing (sweating) about 3-4 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Add the liquids and bring the stock to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 40 minutes.
Pour the stock through a strainer, pressing as much liquid as possible out of the vegetables. Discard vegetables.

What’s Cooking, Neighbor? visits with wine, food and entertaining professionals, who call the Georgetown area home.
Georgetowner dining columnist Walter Nicholls is the food critic for Arlington Magazine, a former staff writer for The Washington Post Food section and an East Village resident. [gallery ids="101373,153212,153209" nav="thumbs"]

Rachel Scola •

It’s been more than a year since Garrett’s, a beloved bar that catered to Georgetown students and citizens alike, closed its doors for the last time on M Street. Now, the location’s doors will reopen again in 2013, welcoming citizens to I-Thai Restaurant and Sushi Bar.

According to the Washington Post, the building is being remodeled and there are plans to have both a sushi bar and a drink bar on each floor, along with themes for each room. Owner Ann Chevasuttho is planning menus with sushi and Thai food but really hopes to focus on and bring authentic Thai cuisine to Georgetown, adding to the list of other Thai restaurants on the scene.

Chevasuttho owns two other Thai restaurants in Virginia already, which can be visited to see a sample of what is coming to Georgetown. However, Chevasuttho hopes the Georgetown location will have more of an upscale feel and can show its residents true Thai food.

I-Thai will be located at 3003 M St., NW, close to Sprinkles Cupcakes, with a November or December opening day forecasted.

Shari Sheffield •

Thanksgiving can be D. R. A. M. A. Trying to choose “the perfect wine” to go with your Thanksgiving feast can
?add to that drama. Trying to find a single wine to please everyone from grandmother to the newly minted drinking-age college boyfriend your daughter has brought home is a challenge. With all the meal preparations required, quite frankly, don’t you always have enough to worry about planning this holiday meal? Stuff the bird before cooking or after? Cranberry sauce with whole berries or none? Sweet potato soufflé or candied yams casserole? And let’s not even get into the seating arrangements that must be con- sidered ensuring that a family kerfuffle doesn’t erupt … again … seconds before the bird even hits the table. Thus, turning your Thanksgiving into your own Bravo reality TV series. Why stress yourself out with what wine to serve?

One tip I give to quickly calm down those responsible for securing the wine for the Thanksgiving meal: Pick one red and white wine. It’s so simple it often gets overlooked. You will invariably have guests at the table who will pull a face and whine dramatically: “I only like white” or “I only like red.” Serving at least one type of each will put a cure at least to that issue.

But, of course, you can go all out and turn Thanksgiving into an opportunity to try multiple wines in one setting. This can be fun and wine will rarely be wasted because of the number of people who will be trying them, if you host a large Thanksgiving meal for family and friends. It is also a chance to explore bottles you might not normally try and discuss.

Another way to totally obviate the pressure of choosing the right wine is to ask each guest to bring a different type of grape varietal (one brings a Chardonnay, one a Merlot and so forth). You can also assign each guest to bring a bottle from a different region. This will result in your own informal private wine dinner right at the Thanksgiving table.

However, if you choose to select the wines yourself, here are a few recommendations for food friendly wines that will pair well with multiple dishes and please the cast of characters seated at your table this year. When the curtain closes on the meal you’ll be able take a bow for your role as “Grace Under Thanksgiving Wine Pressure.” Cheers!

Sparkling
Choose your favorite Champagne or for a French sparkling wine that is reasonably priced. Try the Blanc de Blanc from Duc De Raybaud available at local Whole Foods, under $17.

Riesling
A less dry Riesling will go well with salty, sweet, and spicy foods. Its apple/citrus flavors and balanced acidity won’t over power your turkey. And, it will go with the pumpkin pie. Try Bonny Doon’s California Riesling or Rosemount Estate Diamond Traminer (Australia), approximately $10.

Pinot Gris
This floral white wine has a hint of smoke, apples and creamy texture with all the character of a chardonnay but has more fruit flavors. Try King Estate Pinot Gris, $12, or J Russian River Pinot Gris, $17, approximately.

White Blend
Try Perrin Cote Du Rhone Blanc, 2011 under $17. The Vioginer and Grenache Blanc take the leading role as the predominate grapes in this blend. Marsanne and Roussanne play supporting roles which makes this wine’s lemon flavors and floral notes heavenly at this price point.

Pinot Noir
DeLoach Russian River Pinot Noir $21, has cherry and plum flavors that pair well with herbed stuffing and dark meat without overpower- ing the rest of your dishes.

Syrah
Kunde Syrah costs approximately $16. Syrah can be light or tannic with a lot of structure. This light style Syrah, aka Shiraz, has peppery notes and a spicy edge along with lightness.

Merlot
Markham Merlot from California is very smooth and food friendly. If a crown roast or lamb will be served at your Thanksgiving meal. It has structure but is fruit-forward. It is also velvety with chocolate notes.

Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine and as such is higher in alcohol usually around 15 percent. It can be drunk with the meal, as a dessert wine, or after dinner. Try Tio Pepe Fino with its pale golden color. It has fresh bread and almond aromas. The palate is very dry and complex.

Jody Kurash • January 15, 2014

As Washington – and much of the United
States – thaws out from one of the biggest
cold spells in recent memory, I
have been relishing my new tropical home on
the tranquil island of Bali. Enjoying an average
daily temperature of 85 degrees and a 10-minute
commute to the beach, just looking at the cold
weather on CNN sends shivers down my spine.
But if you can’t move to Polynesia, one of
the best ways to bring the beach to you is with a
tropical umbrella drink. While a hot toddy may
warm your soul, nothing quite says sunshine and
happiness like a tiki bar.

The original tiki bar was Don the
Beachcomber, created by Ernest Gantt in 1933
in Los Angeles. (Author Wayne Curtis tells the
story in “And a Bottle of Rum: A History of
the New World in Ten Cocktails”). Gantt, who
had spent much of his youth rambling about the
tropics, rented a small bar and decorated it with
items he’d gathered in the South Pacific, along
with driftwood, nets and parts of wrecked boats
scavenged from the beach.

Gantt stocked his bar with inexpensive rums,
available in abundance after Prohibition, and
invented an array of faux-tropical drinks using
fruit juices and exotic liqueurs. His bar became
incredibly fashionable, attracting celebrities and
prompting Gantt to legally rename himself Donn
Beach.

The other iconic tiki bar was Trader Vic’s,
founded in 1934 in Oakland, Calif., by Victor
Jules Bergeron, Jr. Originally called Hinky
Dinks, Bergeron’s small bar and restaurant
soon morphed into a Polynesian-themed spot
with tropical drinks. It was renamed Trader
Vic’s at the suggestion of Bergeron’s wife, who
thought it would fit because her husband was
always involved in some type of deal or trade.
According to Curtis, Bergeron admits he swiped
the tiki concept from Gantt.

Both bars expanded to multiple locations,
sparking a nationwide craze that spawned dozens
of imitators, all rushing to replicate each
other’s colorful tipples.

Gantt was a talented mixologist who crafted
complex drinks with lengthy ingredient lists,
including multiple rums, homemade syrups and
fresh fruit. But as more tiki-themed bars opened
and Trader Vic’s turned to franchising, the
intricate cocktails became watered-down and
simplified.

Perhaps the most duplicated tipple is the
quintessential tiki drink: the mai tai. Both Gantt
and Bergeron claimed to have invented it, but
their recipes vary wildly. The name is derived
from “Maita’i,” the Tahitian word for “good.”
Though it later fell out of fashion, the mai
tai was one of the most popular cocktails in the
1950s and ’60s. It featured prominently in Elvis
Presley’s chartbuster movie “Blue Hawaii.”
In their heyday, tiki bars were popular places
to celebrate a big occasion. Trader Vic’s at the
Washington Hilton was a hot spot for power
lunches. It was a favorite of Richard Nixon, who
had a fondness for mai tais.

According to Curtis, a mai tai was the first
thing requested by Patty Hearst, the Symbionese
Liberation Army kidnap-victim turned conspirator,
when she was released on bail in 1976.
Eventually the tiki bubble burst. With
scores of cheap imitators and poor locations,
the Polynesian fad began to lose its luster. None
of the original Don the Beachcombers are still
in existence and Trader Vic’s has only a few
remaining outposts. Perhaps the trend’s last
stand came in 1989, when the ever-brash Donald
Trump closed the venerable Trader Vic’s in New
York’s Plaza Hotel, calling it “tacky.”

Tiki crawled back into the spotlight over the
last decade and a half as retro-hipsters embraced
its kitschiness. Its comeback has continued with
the recent cocktail renaissance. Modern mixologists
have begun to uncover some of the original
tropical recipes with their multi-layered rum
profiles, fresh juices and handcrafted syrups.
The craft tiki cocktail movement arrived in
full force at the Georgetown waterfront in 2009
with mixologist Jon Arroyo’s extensive list of
authentic cocktails at Farmers Fishers Bakers.
Imbibers can sample homemade mai tais based
on the recipes of both Bergeron and Gantt.
Another option is Hogo, a Caribbean-themed
rum bar on 7th Street, NW, featuring highend
island cocktails. The man behind Hogo,
launched just over a year ago, is Tom Brown,
a partner in Washington’s craft cocktail palace
The Passenger.

So when the January frost is nipping at your
nose, remember the words that Donn Beach
would tell his customers: “If you can’t get to
paradise, I’ll bring it to you.”

Don the Beachcomber’s Mai Tai
1 1/2 oz. Myers’s Rum
1 oz. Cuban rum (use a medium-bodied rum such as
Appleton or Barbancourt)
3/4 oz. lime juice
1 oz. grapefruit juice
1/4 oz. falernum syrup
1/2 oz. Cointreau
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Dash of Pernod

Trader Vic’s Mai Tai
2 oz. aged Jamaican rum
.5 oz. orgeat syrup
.5 oz. orange curacao
.25 oz. rock candy syrup
Juice from one fresh lime

For both drinks: Shake everything with ice and
strain into a double old-fashioned glass full of
crushed ice. Garnish with pineapple spear, lime
shell and a sprig of fresh mint.

Georgetowner •

From its opening in 1960 in a Federalperiod
house near Georgetown
University, 1789 Restaurant has always
been known for excellent lamb. “When
I came on, it was the first thing I noticed,”
says Anthony Lombardo, who was appointed
executive chef in 2011. (We got together for
a chat at his favorite table, number 26 in the
Manassas Room.) “It’s a signature dish by
popular demand. So, I sourced the best lamb
I could find, from a small Mennonite farm in
Cumberland, Maryland.”

His seasonal American menu, with entrée
headings of Sustainable Seafood and Humanely
Farmed Animals as well as details of origin for
the farm-goods purveyors, leaves no doubt of his
locavore leanings and eco-consciousness. “You
won’t see tuna or Chilean sea bass on our menu,”
he says. “We’re looking at the big picture, the
future of agriculture.”

Lombardo developed a love of the land and
cooking from an early age. Growing up in the
Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights, his family
enjoyed weekend drives for seasonal produce
sold at roadside stands. “In summer, it was
Michigan corn every night for two months,”
he fondly remembers. On yearly fishing trips
to Canada, teenage Anthony learned how to
properly fillet and cook the catch of the day. At
extended family gatherings of this Italian clan, it
was his aunt Mary who “always destroyed everybody”
with homemade angel hair pasta topped
with fresh tomatoes and basil from her garden.
After graduating from the Culinary Institute
of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., in 2004,
Lombardo was off to a four-month Slow Food
program in central Italy, where he worked in
a butcher shop taking apart whole animals.
He credits Luciano DelSignore, owner of the
renowned Bacco Ristorante in Southfield, Mich.,
for his kitchen management skills. “He was my
career mentor, who taught me how to run an
efficient, effective restaurant.”

Such expertise serves him well at fine-dining
1789, the crown jewel of Clyde’s Restaurant
Group. Expanded over the years to four townhouses,
there are six dining rooms, decorated
with early American antiques and historical
prints. Tables are set with fine linens and giltedged
Limoges china. Gas lights flicker. The
restaurant’s numerical name honors the year
when the land was first purchased by Archbishop
John Carroll (Georgetown University’s founding
father), the village of Georgetown was incorporated
and the Constitution of the
United States was adopted.

“We have customers who have
come for their wedding anniversary
for 30 years. They come for
Christmas, for birthdays,” says the
chef. “They have their favorite tables
and servers.” A recent trend is the
growing number of same-sex couples
who choose the 55-seat Middleburg
Room for their wedding receptions.

“That’s really cool,” he says.
For Restaurant Week 2014 (Jan.
13-19), chef Lombardo’s menu
includes a choice of starters –
Brussels sprout salad, pork terrine
or oyster stew – and entrées – lamb
shoulder with bone marrow grits,
teres major beefsteak with roasted
maitake mushrooms or scallops with
oxtail ragu. For dessert, pastry chef
Ryan Westover offers carrot cake
with purple carrot sherbet or an ice
cream sundae.

Calling his Brussels sprout appetizer
“a nice, healthy, hearty winter salad,”
Lombardo says, “It’s not cooked to death with
bacon and oil, but rather the raw sprouts are
shaved, saving the vitamins and minerals.”

Brussels Sprout Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 pound Brussels sprouts, shaved thinly
1 1/2 cups toasted pine nuts
3/4 cup shaved pecorino Toscano
cheese
1 head Belgian endive, julienned
For the dressing:
4 tablespoons grain mustard
3 tablespoons lemon juice
10 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients

What’s Cooking, Neighbor? visits with wine,
food and entertaining professionals who work
in the Georgetown area. Georgetowner dining
columnist Walter Nicholls is the food critic for
Arlington Magazine and a former staff writer for
The Washington Post Food section.