Sunday, September 27, 2009

Rob on Decent Food


"I work in a fine dining place in the Washington Hotel called the J & G Steak House. Food in DC is definitely a lot different than Kansas City, Chicago or New York. I would say that DC is a couple of years behind those cities. Overall, the restaurant scene here is pretty decent, but there is also a lot of sloppy food around this town. You have a lot of Congressmen and people who work for the government who are used to certain menu items and that is what the restaurants have to cater to. People want steak and potatoes and fish and chips and that is part of why, I think, it is a little behind.

"You have some regional stuff like crab cakes and scrapple, but other than that, I think people here prefer more familiar foods. However, there are lots of ways to be creative with those food styles. Crab cakes, for instance, don’t have to be a regular style Maryland crab cake with Old Bay and celery. You can take the crab cake and serve it with a ginger lime dressing and a horseradish aioli. So, you can put a new twist on older dishes, but it is kind of hit and miss with non-traditional food items. People in DC like home grown stuff. They like chefs from DC and are very closed off when it comes to celebrity chefs or chefs from other areas; they circle the wagons so to speak, when anyone from out of town comes in."

Rob’s favorite restaurants in the area (outside of his own) are Atlantico, Indaroma, and Bourbon Steak.

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