Putting the DC in Top Chef DC: Episode 4

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This week, Top Chef DC approached Washington less like tourists and more like honeymooners.  Sure, they knew the sights were out there, but they were perfectly content to spend the day in the hotel.

Poor Season 7 cheftestants.  When Top Chef did a hotel dining challenge in Season 1, the chefs served professional poker players and the cast of Cirque du Soleil.  When they did a hotel dining challenge last season (in Las Vegas, where the hotels pretty much ARE the attractions), they served breakfast in bed to Padma and Nigella Lawson.

This time?  Breakfast lunch and dinner to DC area Top Chef alums and the chef/owner of the country’s first certified organic restaurant.

So that means we’re all about the personalities this week as we dig into the who’s, what’s and where’s of Top Chef DC.  After the jump, find out what Mike Isabella, Spike Mendelsohn and Bryan Voltaggio have been up to since their appearances on Top Chef, meet celebrated chef Nora Pouillon and check out a local company that’s doing baby food even Padma and Tom would like.

 

Dining Down on the Farm: Two Options to Celebrate the End of Summer

Photo from http://www.outstandinginthefield.com

It’s finally here!  This week’s beautiful weather arrived just in time for tonight’s Blogger Happy Hour – will you be there?  The cooler temperatures have got us looking ahead to everything that autumn has to offer: apple picking, pumpkin patches, corn mazes…and of course a sustained break from the fetid humidity we’ve all come to know and love as DC in the summer. 

But before we say goodbye to summer completely, we wanted to call your attention to two upcoming events that celebrate the best of the season in the best possible way: right there on the farm, among the fruits and vegetables that are just now at their peak.  Whether you’d prefer a farm-fresh dinner with RAMW’s Rising Culinary Star of the Year or a current Top Chef contestant, you’ve got your chance within the next two weeks.

Details on Outstanding in the Field and VOLT’s Late Summer Farm Dinner after the jump.

 

Top Chef Countdown Day 2: Our Interview with Chef Bryan Voltaggio of VOLT

Photo Credit: Bravo

We’re a little more than 24 hours away from the premiere of Top Chef’s sixth season (Cleaving Las Vegas, anyone?), and the excitement is definitely building in Washington as we watch for our local competitors to show the rest of the country what we already know: that DC is underrated when it comes to the quality of our up-and-coming chefs.

Yesterday, we gave you a first look at Zaytinya’s Mike Isabella.  Today, we’re chatting with Frederick’s own Bryan Voltaggio.  After working his way up through the stations at Charlie Palmer’s Aureole (eventually earning the role of sous chef), Voltaggio was named Executive Chef of Charlie Palmer Steak when it opened here in Washington.

As much of a home coming as that was for Voltaggio, he had always envisioned owning his own restaurant and bringing something back to Frederick County where he grew up.  In July 0f 2008 that vision became reality with VOLT, a modern American restaurant that is at once part of the DC restaurant scene and the agricultural community that supports it.

We talked with Bryan Voltaggio about his approach to Top Chef, the way he was able to stay under the radar (at least relative to Isabella) and sibling rivlary:

Capital Spice: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, chef.  We’ve heard you were actually a big Top Chef fan even before you started the application process.  Is that true?
Bryan Voltaggio: Absolutely, though I rarely get to watch the episodes when they first air since I’m usually working.

CS: Did that have anything to do with your decision to apply for this season?
BV: It did.  I’ve actually always wanted to compete [on Top Chef].

Photo Credit: Bravo

CS:Was it a tough decision to make to apply this time around?
BV: Yes and no.  On the one hand, it meant that I was applying soon after VOLT opened up, and I knew that if I was accepted I would need to leave the restaurant for a month or more.  But I’ve got a great team working with me at VOLT, so I wasn’t too worried.

CS: It seems like you had an easier time keeping your participation under wraps than Chef Isabella of Zaytinya did.  Considering how many food bloggers DC has these days, how did you manage to pull it off?
BV: I think there were a couple of factors that helped.  First off, we’re a bit removed from the downtown dining scene, so I’m able to keep a lower profile in general.  Second, I think the timing made a lot of people skeptical that I would do it.  And the fact that I’ve already opened my own restaurant makes me different than a lot of the other competitors, whose goal is to win and then roll the prize money into a new venture.

Voltaggio vs. Voltaggio and Bryan’s connection to another Top Chef after the jump.