| DCDE Hospitality Group |
| The Mad Hatter, Front Page Restaurants, The Starboard and Bethany Blues Restaurants |
| Hours : 11 a.m. to midnight, daily |
If you were to bump into Bobby Varua, corporate executive chef of DCDE Hospitality Group on a Washington sidewalk, you would find a cheerful, mild-mannered guy who is as easygoing as, say, Chicago’s Rick Bayless or as the Food Network’s Bobby Flay. That’s Varua today. But he tells of another Varua, the hard-core workaholic from some of New York’s pricier, hard-driving, superstar kitchens: China Grill, Nougatine, Aureole, Restaurant Daniel and Brasserio, to name a few. And his colleagues? Charlie Palmer, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Daniel Boulud and David Burke, all mega stars in the kitchen.
“I was as hard-working and driven as they all were,” Varua said of his Manhattan days. “Ten years ago, it was all about making great food as the motivator. Now I realize I must manage and lead people well. You can get your food on the plate … I can cook a great dish, but I can’t do it all.”
Why the personality and the career changes? For Varua, the answer is simple: marriage and two adorable daughters. That’s the personality part; as for the career, Varua moved from the spotlight at 701 Restaurant to head up the various DCDE Hospitality Group kitchens under owner Dick Heidenberger, a local restaurateur who owns and manages The Front Page and The Mad Hatter restaurants in Washington, plus Bethany Blues and The Starboard in Delaware Beach.
“This keeps my energy going,” Varua said. “It is a most rewarding job.”
And with overseeing six different restaurants with four different food concepts, the job keeps Varua on his toes.
“Now I do a whole range of genres,” he said.
“So doing the different concepts is very creative,” he said. The concepts range from comfort food like braised lamb shanks to avante garde plating with Varua-made duck prosciutto.
Varua’s love for the kitchen began early in life, and he attributes this culinary passion to his father, who cooked every night, every day. His dad even went so far as to dry fish and squid on old window screens hanging on the family balcony in their New York City apartment.
“I tried to help him out in the kitchen,” Varua said. “He was very strict with me if I messed up.”
Despite this early love for cooking, Varua almost entered a career of criminal justice. His moment of truth came the day the postman delivered two applications, one for a New York police station and one to the New York Restaurant School. What would it be, cop or cook? Obviously, food won out, and Varua points out that for him, cooking is the “truest form of celebration.”
Spurred on by paternal guidance, Varua has eventually developed his own distinctive, whimsical style, which today reflects his Filipino heritage: Coconut-lemongrass braised oxtail with buttered sea urchin and verjus.
“This is a spin on ‘surf and turf,'” which in Filipino would be called ‘kare-kare,” Varua said.
But again, the greatest change in his life is the lessons he’s learned. Now he can work hard and play hard with his family.
“I have really started to breathe again,” he says. “I enjoy cooking and I enjoy my kids. I enjoy life. When I work hard, I make sure the guests are loving the food.”
Q&A with Chef Bobby Varua
What is your comfort food?
Pork and chicken adobo. It has to be. I am also obsessed with Subway sandwiches or with pizzas. I can eat a whole pie during the day.
How do you get your inspiration?
Lately, it’s been from my children. I like that they are being so simple. So simple but good, and innocent. I try to use that in my cooking. Simple things make a big difference. I have tons of cookbooks, but it’s my kids.
What’s in your fridge?
Lots of leftover Chinese food from the Old Shanghai Caf? in Germantown. Fish sauce. Strawberries for my daughters. Pork hocks that I boiled off at 9 a.m. I am obsessed with pigs and fish sauce.
Which are your favorite restaurants?
2941, Hook, Mad Hatter for comfort food.
Which is your favorite cuisine?
Filipino. The amount of white rice I eat is ridiculous.
From the Chef’s Kitchen
Bobby Varua’s Filipino Adobo
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb pork, preferably pork ribs, cut into sections
1/2 lb chicken legs
1/2 lb chicken thighs
1/2 white onion, peeled and sliced
1 head garlic, peeled and separated
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
5 pieces bay leafs
1 tsp paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Saut? the pork and chicken until they start to brown and to caramelize. Add onions and garlic, stirring well. Add the vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, bay leafs, paprika, and 2 cups water. Ingredients. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the liquid starts to thicken. Stir occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with rice.
