When the New York Times and DC food writers engaged in a Food Fight last December, it wasn’t pretty. Some critics, myself included, are still a bit “pessimistic,” as Daniel Maurer of the Grub Street pages of New York Magazine pointed out yesterday. He’s not wrong– this fight has left some critics jaded. When it comes to missing out on good food I just get a little touchy. Does it really take a preview in New York to make a DC destination work? Are people in DC just not excited enough about food on their own? My fellow resident diners, j’accuse.
Last night, Chef Cooper gave me a better insight on his choice to participate in the pop-up and the food critics wars, making an excellent point “Both [New York City and Washington] are great dining cities, but they are very different markets. Manhattan is home to eight million people. It’s one of the biggest platforms for dining in the world. There is no comparing New York to DC or any other city in this country.”
“Limited Time Only is a platform to show New York what DC has to offer, to bring a little piece of the DC dining scene to New York” said Chef Cooper. Can it show NYC critics that DC has more to offer than junk food dives on Capitol Hill, as the New York Times Jennifer Steinhauer claimed? One hopes. That’s the only thing that would make it worth the jealousy of watching NYC have the first taste of a highly anticipated DC restaurant. That seems to be Chef Cooper’s plan: “I want more people to open their eyes and see DC for what it is, a top-notch dining destination.”
He then went on to describe the Limited Time Only preview to a sleep-away training camp for his team. “We are going to live together, work together and cook together for two weeks. Hopefully we’ll emerge stronger, closer and ready rock DC when Rogue 24 opens later this spring.” I guess when you put it like that, it’s hard to be annoyed. Chefs: they need spring training too.
So what should we expect when Team Rogue is back from spring training this May? 52 seats right in the heart of DC, surrounding an open kitchen, filled with a bevy of world-class products from our local farmers and artisans. New York City, I hope you enjoy your appetizer. The main entree is for the fans back home.
Jana Erwin is the primary chef and writer of CherryTeaCakes.com, a non-profit venture combining the love of fine desserts and feeding the impoverished in Washington, DC. You can follow her posts on twitter:@cherryteacakes.
