On her days off, Terri Cutrino may be found taking inventory, as she was doing on a recent gloomy Monday.
But it’s easy to imagine that, as the new executive chef of Penn Quarter’s buzzy Cafe Atlantico, Cutrino probably finds scarce time during the normal week for such housekeeping tasks. After all, as a longtime cook in the Jose Andres THINKfoodGROUP kitchen squad, Cutrino knows a thing or two about what it takes to stays on her game in this high-profile, high-pressure setting.
“The challenge is time,” she says. “It’s a very demanding job.”
Wearing jeans and a pullover sweater and with her hair pulled back in a knot, Cutrino might pass for a college professor on break, serious but easy-going. Although not a professor, “chef” was certainly not her first career, as she readily concedes.
“I came into this profession late in life,” she says. “I was about 25, and had been working in marketing, but I wasn’t happy.”
What about going to business school instead, she had wondered. But as a casual home cook who spent her spare time fixing complex meals for friends, Cutrino realized that she would rather cook than do anything else.
“I just fell in love with the idea of having a career doing what I loved to do,” she says. “It’s a way to reach out to people. To me, food brings people together around a table, whether they are family, friends or strangers.”
Tossing aside her high heels and office outfits, Cutrino enrolled in Gaithersburg’s L’Academie de Cuisine, a move that worried her family. Was that a stable career move? But Cutrino was determined to begin a whole new life phase, and she has no regrets — nor does her family now.
“It was a great experience,” she says. “And I needed to learn how to cook. That opened a lot of doors for me.”
As a culinary graduate, Cutrino went on to work at many of D.C.’s primo restaurants, with chef Susan Lindeborg at the Morrison-Clark Inn and later at the Willard Room, where she worked as the banquet sous chef and later the chef de partie, then moving on to cook with Ann Cashion at Cashion’s Eat Place.
But working first at all three locations of Jose Andres’ Jaleo and now at Cafe Atlantico introduced her to a whole new world of products and of tastes, the Latino and Mediterranean flavor profiles that were not part of her background. A quick learner, Cutrino has mastered the fine art of pairing huitlacoche (a Mexican corn fungus) with Chihuahua cheese and plantains with jerk seasoning, to say nothing of deconstructing the Brazilian bean-and-pork staple, the feijoada, into something utterly transformed. And her own signature recipe?
“It’s a scallops dish with a sweet potato puree and with an orange-vanilla reduction,” she says.
Possibly it’s the challenge to her creativity that has won her heart, for Cutrino looks for her inspirations in many different corners — reading, tasting, playing with food, and eating out.
“I spend many free nights eating out,” she says. “I look to other chefs, too. That’s the only way you get to research and understand a product and to see how different ingredients react to different techniques.”
If you go
Café Atlántico
405 8th St. NW
202-393-0812
Hours: Lunch, Tues. through Fri., 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, Tues. through Thurs., 5 to 10 p.m., Fri., Sat., 5 to 11 p.m., Sun., 5 to 10 p.m.; Brunch, Sat., 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Sun., Nuevo Latino Dim Sum Brunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Q&A with Chef Terri Cutrino
Do you cook at home?
I do often, very simple meals and most are on the grill. It’s fast, usually fish, and that’s why I grill a lot.
What’s your comfort food?
Chili. I make all kinds at home. Tonight, I am making venison chili (see recipe) which has ground venison and pretty typical seasonings.
What’s in your fridge?
Oh, nothing. Maybe a head of lettuce, an apple, a couple of eggs, bacon, lots of condiments, ground venison, a couple of lemons and lots of cheese.
What are your pantry staples?
Beans, pasta, spices, olive oil and hot sauce. All the Asian flavors and lots of oils.
What’s been your luckiest moment?
Probably getting the job at the Willard Room … That’s where my basic skills come from. It was a great foundation.
From the Chef’s Kitchen
Venison chili
Serves 6
As a substitute for the venison, you may use ground turkey, pork or chicken.
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 ⁄ 2 small onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground venison
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 bay leaf
12 ounces beer (darker is better)
2 cups canned kidney beans (light or dark), drained
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup V8 juice
1 tbsp. ground cayenne
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the vegetables, stir, and reduce the heat to low. Cook until the vegetables are soft. Increase the heat to medium, add the ground venison, and cook until browned. Add bay leaf and beer. Cook over medium heat until liquid is reduced by half.
Add kidney beans, diced tomato, V8 juice and seasonings. Reduce the heat to low, and cook, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Adjust seasonings to your taste.
