A few of D.C.’s chefs have got beef. A lot of it.
Nora Pouillon, Todd Gray, Spike Mendelsohn and Jose Andres, four of the District’s most acclaimed chefs, joined food writer Jane Black on Tuesday for the event “Big Night, Big Jobs” at George Washington University. They discussed healthy eating, menu planning and food sourcing.
The panelists said it’s difficult to efficiently use beef on their menus.
From a cow “you can get a rack [of ribs], and a sirloin,” Equinox’s Gray said. “Then you need freezer space for all this ground beef leftover.”
“You can use all of a pig,” said Pouillon, who owns Restaurant Nora, said. There is only so much you can use and “afterward you’re sitting on 900 lbs of ground beef.”
Also, if you thought fine dining was untouched by politics, think again.
“People say ‘buy local,’ ” quipped Andres, owner of Cafe Atlantico, “but their shoes are made in China, their shirt in Taiwan and their glasses in Australia. I run a Spanish restaurant. Do you want cheese from Vermont [in it]?”
Mendelsohn, owner of We, the Pizza and Good Stuff Eatery, is a fan of the attention Michelle Obama has brought to food.
“I really applaud her ‘Let’s Move’ campaign,” he said, referring to the first lady’s effort to bring national awareness to healthy dieting and exercise.
“In a city like Washington, you get called on by everyone to do stuff,” Gray said. “We’re cooks, not politicians. We write our menus, we make our food, [and] we try to make a couple bucks.”
Contributed by Eddie Scarry
