China Chilcano Begins Weekend Brunch
China Chilcano, 418 7th St. NW, is now offering weekend brunch service from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Brunch at the contemporary restaurant in Penn Quarter showcases Peru’s deeply rooted and diverse culinary heritage through its native Criollo, Chinese Chifa and Japanese Nikkei cuisines. The new dishes include picante de huevos, poached eggs, ají panca, pork belly, potato, tomato, red onion and toast; tortilla China, egg foo yung, Edwards smoked ham, fresh crab, scallion, jicama, bean sprouts and oyster sauce; jook, congee of rice, pork belly, crisp shallots, tea egg and sweet soy; and chicharron de costillas de cerdo, crisp pork spare ribs, sweet potato, ‘cancha’ and salsa criolla.
Brunch cocktails, available by the glass, half-carafe and carafe, include Chilcano macerado, a choice of pisco macerado, lime, Amargo Chuncho bitters and Fever-Tree ginger ale; sabores toronja (grapefruit), fresa (strawberry) and pepino (cucumber); and yawar, sweet wine, blood orange, prickly pear and lemon.
Cashion’s Eat Place hosts family-style rockfish roast
Cashion’s Eat Place, 1819 Columbia Road NW, is celebrating summer and local seafood with a whole rockfish roast on Aug. 26. The family-style feasts will feature whole sustainable rockfish, roasted with all the fixings, salad and dessert for $55. Dinners starts at 6:30 p.m. and is limited to 20 guests.
The line-caught whole rockfish, which weighs between 13-15 pounds, is roasted in the oven for an hour. The whole fish is served alongside various sides such as salsa verde, paprika aioli, marinated olives, fresh lime, house-made hot sauce, sea salt, olive oil and scallions.
The meal starts with a salad of local tomatoes, cucumbers, croutons, Kalamata olives, spring onions, Dodonis feta, mint and Laconian olive oil. For dessert, there is a local fruit clafoutis with buttermilk sorbet. For those who would like to pair the meal with wine, the Chehalem INOX Chardonnay, an unoaked Chardonnay from Willamette Valley, Oregon, will be available for $40 per bottle.
Reservations are required and can be made online.
City Tap House hosts Sour That Summer Is Ending party
City Tap House, 901 Ninth St. NW, will host a “Sour That Summer Is Ending” party from 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m. on Aug. 27. Guests can enjoy the last days of summer with a celebration of rare and unique sour brews from around the world.
Sour beers are one of the most unusual beer styles. They range from a gentle sour tinge that helps provide complexity, to extreme mouth-puckering sourness. The organisms that create sour flavors usually contribute other aromas and flavors that are unattainable with normal yeast. City Tap House will dedicate nine tap lines to the complex brew featuring New Belgium La Folie, Prof. Fritz Briem 1809 Berlinerweisse, 3 Stars Cognitive Dissonance Berliner-rye, Union Old Pro Gose, Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne, Brouwerij Bockor Cuvee de Jacobins Rouge, Brouwerij Stubbe Ichtegems Ale; Oud Beersel Lambic, Rodenbach Grand Cru and more. Beer prices range from $6-$13.
701 Restaurant to close Aug. 30 for renovation
701 Restaurant, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, will close on Aug. 30 for five days to undergo a total makeover. It will reopen in time for lunch and dinner service on Sept. 4.
Owner Ashok Bajaj has tapped James Beard award-nominated restaurant designer Martin Vahtra of Projects Design Associates in New York to create the new look for 701 Restaurant. Vahtra also designed Bajaj’s Rasika West End, which opened in March 2012, and Nopa Kitchen+Bar, which opened in April 2013. Among the changes is the addition of a private dining room that can accommodate 30 guests.
701’s new design features dramatic colors and wall coverings, in addition to a central wall sculpture. The bar will be more dramatic with new lights with gold leaf interiors. The 20 large white “egg” lights appear to be cracked, revealing golden interiors that sparkle. There will also be banquettes with Maharam fabrics of burgundy, blue and gold accents. New armchairs will be recovered in a striped fabric with colors ranging from burgundy to teal that complement the gold accents throughout the restaurant. Solid, exposed wood tables will be paired with Italian chairs of all different styles to give the room a less-formal ambiance. New carpet will include a pattern of bubbles that swirl around the floor.
The two existing private dining rooms, which can accommodate 12 and 20 people, will be refinished with paint, wall coverings and artwork. One will also incorporate a new set of glass doors for added privacy. The new 30-seat dining room is being created where the current elevated lounge is. It will be enlarged and surrounded by etched glass panels, which can be closed off with floor-to-ceiling draperies. Different sized lampshades will adorn the ceiling. It will feature an audio-visual system and it have its own bar.
Melanie Kurtz named pit master at Old Glory Bar-B-Que
Melanie Kurtz has been appointed pit master at Old Glory Bar-B-Que, 3139 M St. NW in Georgetown. Kurtz brings 11 years of experience to her new position. She most recently served as executive sous chef of Paolo’s Ristorante, which is also owned by Capital Restaurant Concepts.
A native of Huntington, Pa., Kurtz graduated from The Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts in 2004 with an associate degree in culinary arts. Shortly thereafter, she relocated to Washington, D.C. where she accepted an internship with Capital Restaurant Concepts. For four years, Kurtz worked her way up the ranks at Paolo’s Ristorante, beginning as a line cook before being promoted to sous chef in 2008. In 2009, she became a sous chef at Capital Restaurant Concepts’ Ovations, the on-site restaurant at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. After two years, she returned to Paolo’s as executive sous chef.
A new addition to Old Glory’s menu is Kurtz’s smoked chicken thigh sandwich, which is dry rubbed and smoked for four hours.
Lisa Marie Frantz is new executive chef at Majestic Café
Lisa Marie Frantz has been named executive chef of The Majestic Café, 911 King St. in Old Town. She brings more than eight years of experience helming kitchens.
Originally from Northern California, Frantz grew up running around her father’s butcher shop. Realizing her first career choice – graphic design – was more of a hobby, she pursued culinary studies at Le Cordon Bleu in Scottsdale, Ariz., earning her associates degree in 2008. Interning at Dish Market & Bistro in Scottsdale while in school, Frantz soon became sous chef.
Frantz moved to Washington, D.C. in 2008, to assist in opening Founding Farmer’s flagship restaurant, where she was promoted to sous chef, working for executive chef Graham Duncan, who is now corporate executive chef for Alexandria Restaurant Partners, which owns The Majestic Café. In 2012, Frantz was appointed executive chef at Farmers Fishers Bakers, Farmers Restaurant Group’s project on the Georgetown waterfront. Most recently, she served as executive chef at Brickside Food & Drink in Bethesda from 2013 to July 2015.
Valerie Hill is new pastry chef at Nopa Kitchen+Bar
Valerie Hill has been named pastry chef at Nopa Kitchen+Bar, 800 F St. NW. She brings more than 25 years of experience to her new role.
A native of Chatham, Va., Hill pursued her interest in the visual arts at the Holden School of Art and Design in Charlottesville, Va., in 1983 leading her to study at Northern Virginia Community College in Sterling, before she gravitated to the culinary world. In 1998, she enrolled at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda. Hill also took courses at the Pastry Institute of Washington, D.C. and the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone Campus in Napa Valley, Calif. Prior to joining Nopa Kitchen+Bar, Hill served for eight years as pastry chef of Johnny’s Half Shell in D.C., where she was responsible for the opening and operation of the pastry kitchen at the 350-seat restaurant. Hill also served as pastry chef at The Majestic Cafe in Alexandria from March 2001 to July 2006.
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.