Seasonal, fresh and fun

Lean, angular Blake Schumpert — who has the air of a man who has weathered his share of culinary duties — has taken over the kitchen at the handsome, woodsy Redwood Restaurant in Bethesda Row. Considering that he was most recently at the helm of Richmond’s Millie’s Diner — one of the mid-Atlantic’s funkiest food destinations — Schumpert can probably handle almost any cooking complexity. After all, Millie’s was voted Richmond’s best restaurant of 2008.

But what makes this guy such a good fit here — a restaurant where management stresses seasonal cooking — is his connection to gardening and finding farm-fresh ingredients. Seasonal cooking is all the food rage, of course, but Schumpert grew up in a family that not only celebrated food and family dinners, when lobsters and Steak Diane might be on the menu, but also in a family that held gardening in some awe. That’s been a key element shaping the young Schumpert.

“My grandfather was a passionate gardener,” he says. “And I inherited that passion. I was tasked with picking vegetables from our garden.”

Yet, like many of his contemporaries, Schumpert’s first professional involvement with the restaurant business wasn’t with cooking but with that money-earning standby, dishwashing — but not for long.

“That was my first exposure to fine dining,” he says of his first job. “The Austrian chef then had me wash dishes and do some prep cooking.”

He moved on to a second restaurant, The C&O Restaurant in Charlottesville, where he worked as a runner, dispatching customers’ orders to the chefs.

“That was comical,” he says. “But that’s where my passion for the industry began. It was hard work, energetic, and fun. I began to learn there.”

In college, Schumpert continued to learn from on-the-job experiences, going from good to better jobs. And during the summer months, he worked as a line cook at Clyde’s of Tysons.

“Then I made a commitment to the career, working at the Occidental Restaurant in Washington in my mid-20s,” he says.

He later moved on to Aqua in San Francisco, followed by stints at Le Bernardin, Union Pacific, and Blue Hill in New York throughout a six-year period. When he returned to D.C., Schumpert lucked out by working for Michel Richard at Citronelle before moving on to the executive chef’s position at Ardeo/Bardeo.

In the end, Schumpert found his real inspiration came from a farm-friendly restaurant.

“Working at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill Restaurant in New York is what really shaped me,” says Schumpert. “He was very influential. He served clean plates, and he used seasonal ingredients from farmers’ markets.”

That helps explain why Schumpert’s menu inspiration comes, as he puts it, from “the produce that comes through the door. And that includes local meats and fish.” And then he spins out his culinary magic by drawing upon his diverse gastronomic experiencesÉ and, he admits, with some experimentation. Think his St. Louis-style pork ribs, charred jalape–o barbecue sauce, coleslaw, potato salad or the grilled octopus salad with farro (see recipe).

Schumpert eventually ended up in Richmond at Millie’s, with the intention of helping long-time friends and owners of the place, a stint that morphed from one month to nearly a year. But Schumpert says with great gusto that he is very glad to be back in the Washington, D.C. metro area. After all, with assorted friends and family nearby, he’s very much at home.

Q&A with Chef Blake Schumpert

What’s your comfort food?

It used to be a BLT and roast chicken. Now I’m into banh mie and Asian noodles, dumplings and soups.

What’s your cooking philosophy?

Keep it simple. And that’s from a professional point of view. And paying attention to details such as temperature, techniques, and seasonings and how much.

What are your favorite restaurants?

Sushi-ko, Cork, CityZen at the bar. I used to go to Komi and Obelisk, and a lot of Asian places. And Lebanese Taverna.

What’s in your fridge?

A lot of hot sauces, mustard, bagels, five kinds of cheeses and half a Red Stripe.

What has been your luckiest moment?

We got to serve Ed Bradley dinner in New York. That was the most gratifying. Someone went out of the way to thank me and the kitchen, saying that was the best they’d ever eaten. That’s the most rewarding thing a chef can hear.

From the Chef’s Kitchen

Grilled Spanish Octopus and Farro Salad

Serves 4 to 6

1 (1.5 pounds) fresh young octopus

Extra virgin olive oil to taste

Spanish paprika to taste

Sherry vinegar to taste

Kosher salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 pound farro

2 to 3 ribs celery, peeled

1/2 cup small, tender celery leaves

1/3 cup thinly sliced scallion, white and green part

1/4 cup diced fresh basil leaves

Nicoise or kalamata olives, pitted and chopped, to taste

Zest of 1 to 2 lemons

Cherry tomatoes, quartered, to taste

Juice of 2 lemons

Remove the head and beak from the octopus and rinse very well under cold running water. Poach in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, and cool in the refrigerate immediately. When cool, drain and marinate in the olive oil, paprika, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper for 1 to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, rinse the farro and cook in lightly salted water in a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part farro; cook as you would rice. Cook for about 30 minutes over medium-low heat, or until the grains open and soften slightly. Drain, and set aside to cool.

Slice the celery on the bias in 1/8-inch-long pieces, and plunge into boiling salted water in a mesh strainer for 30 seconds. Shock the celery in very cold water for 1 minute, and drain thoroughly.

Prepare a hot grill for the octopus. Drain the octopus, reserving the marinade, and char slightly on the grill, but away from the hot flames, for about 4 minutes. Set aside, and when cool enough to handle, slice thinly on the bias.

To assemble the salad, combine all the solid ingredients in a large bowl, and season with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add a few tablespoons of the marinade, tossing to combine. Divide onto individual serving plates, and drizzle with more marinade before serving.