Salted Butter Break-Ups

Cookbook Club – Holiday Year in Review The December event seemed like the perfect time to look back on and appreciate all of the fantastic food the Cookbook Club explored over the past year, so rather than selecting a new cookbook we asked everyone to make a recipe from any of the books we’d used…

Tuna Rillettes

Cookbook Club – Bouchon; Around My French Table Fiona and Anthony hosted a bonus event this month, featuring French food and friends! We were excited to try some food from Bouchon, but because Thomas Keller’s cooking can be daunting, we also had the option of making something from Dorie Greenspan’s more accessible Around My French…

Le Comptoir Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #69 Le Comptoir is one of the most intimate experiences on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. There are only two seatings per night, in which 10 lucky people get to sit at the counter watching Chef Gary Menes prepare and plate the 8-course set menu. He starts with an introduction describing that…

Republique Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #58 Republique is the French bistro on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list that he says “could turn just about anyone into a gibbering, gluttonous fool”. He is not wrong. From the moment I walked up to the outside of Republique, I fell in love with this adorable spot. You walk in and…

3.14 Pi(e) Day II

March 14 was almost upon us, and since last year’s Pi(e) Day party was such a raging success, I decided to rally the troops for another celebration of my favorite food. My fellow pie fanatics answered the call, helping me to celebrate what is fast becoming my favorite holiday of the year. Rules were the…

Mustard Batons

Cookbook Club – doriegreenspan.com For February’s Cookbook Club, we used a blog instead of a cookbook – https://doriegreenspan.com. I made the Mustard Batons. You can check out our whole Dorie dinner on my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! I had an event to go to before the Cookbook Club party, so I will…

Cinnamon Chouquettes

Chouquettes are small round pastries sprinkled with pearl sugar. They’re often eaten in France as an afternoon snack. You can fill them with custard to make cream puffs. These airy pastries are pretty cool, because they puff up without any kind of rising agent. Apparently the high water content makes steam when baking, which is…

A.O.C. Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #24 A.O.C. is one of Suzanne Goin’s restaurants to regularly make Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list (Lucques is another, which I haven’t made it to yet, but it’s on my list to make it to their Sunday Supper!). A.O.C. has a beautiful courtyard patio with big doors into the restaurant and bar, vines creeping up the surrounding…

Petit Trois Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #4 Petit Trois is a French bistro by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. It is a regular on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. Jon and Vinny have a handful of restaurants all within about a 3-mile radius in the Fairfax area. In addition to Petit Trois, there is Animal, Son of a Gun,…

Galettes au Fromage; Oranges Glaces

Cookbook Club – Mastering the Art of French Cooking For our first Cookbook Club, we used Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I chose the Galettes au Fromage and the Oranges Glaces. Go to my Cookbook Club site to see all the cheesy, buttery goodness we consumed. For now – my dishes! This…