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Ad Caffeine
By Warren Rojas
“Tea: The Drink that Changed the World.” John Griffiths. Andre Deutsch, 328 pgs., $29.95According to John Griffiths’ exhaustive treatise “Tea,” Starbucks remains on the losing side of history.
The ex-journalist-turned-beverage detective touts tea as the second most popular beverage in the world (water tops the list), and devotes over 300 pages to proving his point in a scholarly review that drones in spots—jokes that might elicit chuckles at a soiree with Lipton and Twining heirs fall flat for average readers—but enlightens in others (it took Britain till 2005 to harvest its first commercial tea crop).
Though born into the trade (his father authored “The History of the Indian Tea Industry”; his brother raised tea in northeastern India), Griffiths rejects anecdotal information in lieu of scholarly timelines and scientific data.
To wit, he provides back-of-the-envelope calculations of Britain’s tea consumption since 1657 and advances a CSI-style deconstruction of the Boston Tea Party, calculating the manpower and time required to loose the estimated 92,000-plus pounds of tea into the surrounding waters (his conclusion: British sailors must have been complicit in the attack). He also pontificates a bit, lambasting British tea merchants for participating in a dubious opium-silver-tea circuit that proved profitable to European importers and detrimental to Asia’s addicted (“This country could [not] have been opened up without the opium pipe,” disgraced conspirator Warren Hastings says of the rocky road to trade with China).
(November 2008)
AT the table with:
Inox
By Warren Rojas
Courtesy of KochfotoThis November marks a new chapter for the three local talents behind McLean’s Inox, a high-concept venue to be piloted by co-executive chefs Jonathan Krinn and Jon Mathieson (2941’s award-winning tag-team) and wine director John Wabeck (last seen at D.C.’s New Heights).
Mind you, it was no mere accident that convinced this trio of well-seasoned toques that now was the time to launch their ingredient-driven dining enterprise.
“We were always very interested in doing a team-oriented project,” Krinn said of the dually helmed Inox kitchen. He added that since Mathieson and Wabeck have been friends for quite some time, bringing the Master Sommelier candidate aboard to handle their expansive beverage program was a natural fit.
Wabeck is still stunned his friends are making good on what so long ago seemed like just idle chatter.
“This scheme was probably hatched about six to eight years ago on Jon’s back porch,” he said of the marathon cookouts that would inevitably morph into “what-if” bull sessions about breaking out on their own.
Of course, chasing new dreams means letting go of the past.
“Cotton candy definitely will not be on the menu. This is a new approach,” Mathieson said of the unanimous decision to strike 2941’s fluffy, pink parting gift from their cooking repertoire.
Breadbasket aficionados, on the other hand, should be pleased to hear that baker Malvin Krinn is hard at work developing warm, crusty welcomes to greet Inox patrons.
Meanwhile, Mathieson suggested that 2941’s stunt-casting (lion, ostrich) was part of a more “whimsical” approach than they are after now.
“We’re going to be very approachable,” he said of their streamlined menu. Tentative features include: Wagyu carpaccio, a Maine lobster, veal and sweetbreads trifecta and fried chocolate truffles.
Wabeck envisions a fairly extensive by-the-glass program supplemented by rotating daily specials (which he described as “something cool that’s open”), adding, “I’d like to see a couple people a night drink something they’ve never tried before.” He suggested that South America, Greece and South Africa would be well represented. As will his first love, red Burgundy.
(November 2008)
These Dames Know How to Dish
By Warren Rojas
 “Cooking with Les Dames d’Escoffier: At Home with the Women Who Shape the Way We Eat and Drink” Edited by Marcella Rosene with Pat Mozersky. Sasquatch Books, 400 pgs., $35An army of today’s elite female food professionals share some of their hard-learned lessons and battle-tested recipes in “Cooking with Les Dames d’Escoffier,” a cookbook packed with almost as many culinary war stories as it is recipes.
The roster of esteemed contributors reads like a who’s who of working chefs, including local talents Ris Lacoste (ex-1789 toque launching the eponymous Ris in 2009), Nongkran Daks (Thai Basil) and Nora Pouillon (Restaurant Nora).
The book is layered with sage cooking advice (“Some things are not to be done by shortcuts: your black peppers, cardamom and nutmeg need to be freshly ground, your lemons freshly squeezed and your garlic freshly chopped”), quickie tips for gussying up dull dishes (“Making food attractive”) and tongue-in-cheek revelations about the reality behind televised cooking segments (“It is often a grand illusion, yet behind the camera there is always an army of cooks getting the job done”).
It also features over 100 innovative recipes (culled from over 400 original entries), including: spicy fava beans and caviar, grilled gazpacho salad, butternut squash-kale minestrone, shrimp with Armenian pesto, Philly cheesesteaks with truffled cheese (prepared for President Clinton), Lacoste’s creamy feat potatoes and a pork- and pancetta-stuffed artichokes dish from Gina Batali—Mario’s younger sister.
(November 2008) |
