Foodservice Monthly

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Volume 18, No. 1 â– February/March 2019

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insidefsm Volume 18, No. 1

Editor’s Note: The correct date of issue for this edition of Foodservice Monthly is February/March 2019 and not January/ February, as is noted on the cover. We apologize for the error.

foodservicemonthly Volume 18, No. 1 ■ February/March 2019 Silver Communications Publisher

February/March 2019

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Lisa Keathley Managing Editor lisafoodmag@gmail.com Lisa Silber Sales Manager lisa@foodservicemonthly.com Electronic Ink Design & Production fsm@eink.net

News & Information

Columns

Advertiser Index ……………………………………………………………………18 Association News RAM by Marshall Weston …………………………………21 Association News RAMW by Kathy Hollinger ……………………………… 3 FSM News ……………………………………………………………………………13

Advertiser Spotlight: WSF Food Brokerage …………………………………23 Balti-MORE by Dara Bunjon………………………………………………………17 Bob Brown Says by Bob Brown …………………………………………………18 Culinary Correspondent by Celeste McCall ………………………………… 4 Food Smarts by Juliet Bodinetz ………………………………………………… 6 From the Sea by Tim Sughrue ……………………………………………………16 Insurance...Plus! by Michael Gabriel …………………………………………15 Local Cooks by Alexandra Greeley ……………………………………………24 Modern Business Solutions by Henry Pertman …………………………… 7 The Latest Dish by Linda Roth …………………………………………………20 Whining ’n Dining by Randi Rom ……………………………………………… 2

In the Spotlight

It’s Expo Time! by Susan Jones ………………………………………………… 8

Cover photo: OCHMRA’s Susan Jones (L) and Liz Walk (R); Chef Shaun O’ Neale (M)

Contributing Writers Kathy Hollinger Linda Roth Susan Jones Tim Sughrue Celeste McCall Eric Terry Henry Pertman Marshall Weston Randi Rom Contact phone: 703-471-7339 email: lisa@foodservicemonthly.com fax: 866-961-4980 web: www.foodservicemonthly.com

Juliet Bodinetz Bob Brown Dara Bunjon Michael Gabriel Alexandra Greeley

Foodservice Monthly, a division of Silver Communications, Corp., is owned and published by Silver Communications, Corp. The Foodservice Monthly mission is to provide Mid-Atlantic foodservice professionals with news and information in an informed, imaginative and insightful newsmagazine. Foodservice Monthly assumes no responsibility for material submitted to us. All information contained in this publication is believed to be accurate.

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 1

WHINING ’N DINING | Randi Rom

Ode to Bergamo

Chef Riccardo Bosio serves up flavors of home Sotto Sopra Restaurant has always featured Northern Italian cuisine, but this year, the focus will be on chef/owner Riccardo Bosio’s native cuisine of Bergamo. Bosio wants to share the flavors and lifestyle that were part of his journey into the culinary world, while capturing the beauty of his home city, bite-by-bite.

The restaurant is offering cooking classes and exclusive dinners throughout the year featuring Bergamo’s top regional dishes.

Bergamo, Italy is approximately 25 miles northeast of Milan and 19 miles from Switzerland and Lake Como. One can taste the influence of this region’s agriculture in the cuisine with the uses of cheese, polenta, and cream. Among the featured dishes on Sotto Sopra’s “L’Anno di Bergamo” menu are Polenta Schisola (schisola meaning “squished” in the Bergamascan dialect) with salami and taleggio cream, Casonsei de la Bergamasca, a stuffed ravioli with a filling of calf meat, fresh salami, sultanas, herbs, and ameretti, and Torta Donizetti, Bergamo’s typical cake. A small presentation on Bergamo is part of the evening’s festivities. https://www. sottosoprainc.com//.

Coming soon…

Felipe’s Mexican Taqueria, a fast/ casual Mexican restaurant, will open at The Shops at Kenilworth in Towson with a scratch menu featuring burritos, tacos, and 2 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

tamales, along with craft cocktails.

With construction beginning in the spring, look for a 2020 opening date.

A new grocery store — the 818 Market — will open soon in Catonsville (just down the street from State Fare/see below), featuring its own restaurant upstairs with the oh-so-talented executive chef Matt Milani taking the helm in the kitchen. Matt owned The Rumor Mill in Ellicott City, which closed after the 2016 floods.

Keep an eye out for the opening of Atlas Restaurant Group’s new waterfront venue across from its popular Ouzo Bay, a Greek restaurant in Harbor East. Ouzo Beach will be located across the street on the waterfront promenade and will offer the same menu and feature live entertainment and great views of the Inner Harbor. The Atlas Group also owns Loch Bar, Azumi, The Bygone, Tagliata, and The Elk Room in Harbor East. This spring, the group is slated to open a new seafood spot — The Choptank — in the Broadway Market in Fells Point.

Open for biz…

State Fare, a new gastro pub that serves a mix of elevated pub fare and classic, new American comfort food, opened on Frederick Road in Catonsville. Owners Keith Holsey and Evan Brown previously owned and operated the popular Ellicott City hot spot Portalli’s, which was destroyed in the floods — after two previous rebuilds. The restaurant is open seven days a week for breakfast (all day!), lunch, and dinner, offering a an inventive and varied menu, a serious beer, bourbon, and whiskey selection, and plenty of free parking. https://www.statefaremd.com/.

Great news for Baltimore Farmers’ Market devotees! Farm to Face opened its own brick-and-mortar space on Harford Road in Hamilton.

Soooo, now you don’t have to wait

for Sunday to get your organic falafel wraps. https://www.facebook.com/ farmtofacebmore/.

Charme*D Kitchen, serving homemade, from-scratch baked goods and entrees, opened on Chester Street in the Butcher’s Hill neighborhood. https://www. charmedkitchen.com/kitchen-1/.

Read more in the Balti-MORE column on page 17.

What’s happening…

The Charmery owners, Laura and David Alima, have partnered with Baltimore in a Box (they ship boxes of B’more’s fave hometown treats — anywhere) to create a new Charm City flavor. It combines ice cream with Utz potato chips, Otterbein’s chocolate chip cookies, and a Goetze’s Cow Tale. The Charmery has three locations — on the Avenue in Hampden, in Towson, and at the Union Collective. http://www. thecharmery.com/.

Peter’s Inn, a neighborhood favorite in Fells Point, reopened after extensive renovations following a fire in October.

The recently opened, streetfood inspired restaurant Gypsy’s Truckstaurant in Hampden/ Woodberry has quickly become a popular go-to spot. If you like the tasty treats from Gypsy Queen Cafe food truck and were a fan of Helen’s Garden in Canton, you’ll love this cool-vibe spot from owners/chefs Annemarie Langton and Tom Looney. They now have trivia night on Tuesdays and bingo on Thursdays. http://www. gypsystruckstaurant.com/.

The National Kidney Foundation’s signature fundraising event, Santé: A Taste of Baltimore, is set for February 28 at the American Visionary Art Museum. The business casual soiree will feature tastings from 20 Baltimore restaurants, caterers, and chefs, including Zeffert and Gold Catering, B&O American

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Brasserie, Chef’s Expressions, Flavor Cupcakery, and Little Havana. http:// www.kidneymd.org/.

Cool, new thing alert! Sagamore Pendry Baltimore in Fells Point debuted…wait for it… its own Möet & Chandon champagne vending machine. Located in the open-air courtyard, this is the first of its kind in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and only one of twelve champagne vending machines in the country. It’s filled with 320 splits of Möet & Chandon Brut and Rosé. https://www. pendryhotels.com/baltimore/.

Chef/restaurateur John Shields debuted a new cookbook, The New Chesapeake Kitchen. It takes the best of what grows, swims, or grazes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, offering “bay and body friendly” recipes like Wide Net Blue Catfish Coddies, Hutzler’s Cheese Bread, and Aunt Bessie’s Crab Pudding.

Written in the aftermath of John’s heart attack, this collection of recipes was assembled with an eye towards being good for the body and good for the environment. The book features full-color images by former Baltimore Sun Magazine photographer, David W. Harp. http:// www.johnshields.com/nck/.

Closed… …Wit & Wisdom — a tavern by Michael Mina that opened in 2012 at Harbor East’s Four Seasons Hotel — on New Year’s Day. …Donna’s — a hugely popular restaurant located in The Village of Cross Keys on Falls Road — after 19 years. …the Nickel Taphouse in Mount Washington — after almost five years.

RANDI ROM is a Baltimore special events planner, marketing and public relations maven, freelance writer, and head of R.J. Rom & Associates. Have a hot scoop?

Contact Randi via e-mail at: randirom@ comcast.net or by phone at: 443-691-9671. foodservicemonthly

ASSOCIATION NEWS RAMW | Kathy E. Hollinger

For Restaurant Operators, Hospitality is Never on Shutdown For each edition, we think about so many things when considering what is our most time-sensitive news to share with readers of Foodservice Monthly. We think about legislative issues facing operators in our D.C. metropolitan region community.

We think about exciting marketing promotions like Restaurant Week, and we think about sharing updates on our Education Foundation. But for the past few weeks, despite all the things we could have been thinking and talking about, we were thinking about the government shutdown.

I hope, by the time you are reading this in the February/March issue, that the shutdown has ended permanently and the D.C. area is back to business as usual, along with every other locale across the country affected

by this hardship. Throughout the partial shutdown, the D.C. restaurant community was open for business, but there were not enough customers to go around as the region relies heavily on business from federal workers, visitors to the District for work and tourism, and the business that both of those things spur in our economy.

In a survey of RAMW restaurant operators asking if they saw a decrease in business in January, compared to last year, the answer was a definite 20 percent decrease in sales. Several reported as much as a 60 percent decrease, often depending on their location. This, at a time when operators were already expecting and projecting a slump in business after the December holidays

had passed and before prime dining out days like Valentine’s Day are approaching.

Many operators reported that they were worried about making payroll and had to reduce hours, cut staff, and temporarily reduce the days they were open. Some considered taking out loans to stay afloat. Of course, a decrease in sales doesn’t just affect the restaurant. The supplier community was hurting too, as were so many industries that rely on Washington, D.C. and its surrounding communities to be a bustling metropolitan area where residents and visitors alike dine out frequently, shop, visit museums and attractions, ride the Metro, use ride share services, stay in hotel rooms, and so much more.

45th Annual

The federal government is the single largest employer in D.C., with the foodservice industry coming in very close behind. RAMW joined the Greater Washington Board of Trade and 21 other business organizations to issue a joint statement and share data on the massive impact the shutdown was having on our region.

We extended our twice-annual Restaurant Week promotion for a second week — for the first time in its history — to help drive business to restaurants during the shutdown and to help lift spirits.

Through the worry, uncertainty, and loss of business, we also watched in awe as our local industry in the DMV never turned off the light of

RAMW NEWS cont. page 14

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 3

CULINARY CORRESPONDENT | Celeste McCall

Asian Hot Pot — Hot! Hot! Hot! It’s hot, hot, hot. Asian-style hot pot is a red-hot trend for 2019.

However, hot pot cooking — immersing foods into simmering broth — is nothing new. Traditional hot pot cooking began in China’s Chongqing and Sichuan regions during the Ming Dynasty (13681644), or perhaps even earlier. Back then, poor, hungry sheep herders and others dunked animal hearts, intestines, and tripe into steaming, chili-spiked ox blood. Not very appealing to modern diners! Later (fortunately!), cooks replaced ox blood with seasoned broth and substituted more palatable meats and vegetables for cheap offal.

Temporarily hopping aboard the 21st century hot pot wagon is Fuyu.

Located in Washington’s Navy Yard, Fuyu is a pop-up, usually called Whaley’s. This winter, while the Washington Nationals are gone and the neighborhood seems almost deserted, Whaley’s has morphed into Fuyu. Fuyu — appropriately — is Japanese for “winter.” Until midMarch, co-owner Dick Wiseman and chef Daniel Perron are serving shabu-shabu, a seasoned simmering broth in which customers swish beef, pork, vegetables, and seafoods.

A Japanese winter wonderland The 68-seat Fuyu looks the part.

Japanese paper lanterns festoon the space. Tables are set with lovely blue and white, including fish-shaped chopstick rests. Most of these accoutrements come from Korin Japanese Trading Company, out of New York, or Miya Company, out of Princeton, NJ. Most of Fuyu’s Japanese pastes, sauces, and shoyu (soy sauce) come from Toiro, a specialty Japanese importer on the West Coast. Perron also sources many fresh Japanese products from Mikuni Wild Harvest (Washington state) and Regalis 4 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

comes the added choice of dipping sauces, with varying degrees of fire power.

And even more!

Celeste McCall

Shabu-shabu meats Foods (Long Island City, NY). Pots and dishes come from either Korin or Miya Company.

How to do shabu-shabu…

Our knowledgeable server Brandon explained the shabu-shabu process. (He and fellow servers spent a week in training.) He steered us toward the spicy red miso broth, which he poured into a bowl set atop an electric burner. When the liquid reached a gentle boil, we immersed thinly sliced mushrooms, radishes, carrots, and cabbage. Then we added paper thin big eye tuna, pork, and monkfish. Lastly, we slurped the concentrated broth laced with hand-cut, chewy udon noodles.

Chef Perron, 29, has no formal training in Japanese cooking.“ But I do have a lot of experience using Japanese ingredients over the years.

I understand Japanese cooking philosophy through studying,” Perron told FSM. “Japanese is my personal favorite when eating out.”

Why shabu-shabu?

“We knew we wanted to do a pop up for Whaley’s to get us through the brutal winter,” he explained.

“Whaley’s is right on the water and has a boardwalk feel. When it’s bitterly cold outside, it becomes a deserted beach town.

“We wanted to do something fun and exciting and fill a void in the

busy D.C. dining scene,” he added.

“Shabu-shabu popped up, and a light bulb immediately went off in my head. I thought it would be perfect! And we could still keep it seafood-centric like Whaley’s.

“We’ve gotten great response from guests, regulars, and newcomers alike,” Perron added. “Everyone who’s dined with us has enjoyed the communal aspect of shabu-shabu.

There is nothing like it in D.C., and it has brought people from all over, many who have never been to Whaley’s and/or never experienced shabu-shabu.”

Whaley’s/Fuyu is located at 301 Water Street, SE. For more information, call 202-484-8800 or visit www.whaleysdc.com.

More hot pot hot spots…

Another local hot pot enterprise is Yang’s, in Washington’s Atlas District.

Created by Maketto restaurateur Erik Bruner-Yang, the eponymous restaurant is located in the former Impala space at 1358 H Street, NE. Why? Bruner-Yang and Impala business partner Troy Hickman “wanted to do something different.”

Yang’s kitchen provides diners with a choice between a robust Chinese chicken or roasted vegetable broth. Dipping selections include a range of 40 meats, seafoods, veggies, tofu, noodles, and dumplings to cook in the simmering liquid. Then

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Other Asian cook-it-yourself ventures are Rockville’s all-youcan-eat Urban Hot Pot. Situated on Rockville Pike, Urban’s dunking options include the usual beef, chicken, lamb, pork, and seafoods, along with offbeat offerings like pork kidneys, tripe, gizzards, and even Spam.

Several Little Dipper Hot Pots are scattered around the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. The newest is in Fairfax’s burgeoning Mosaic District, with a 60-seat dining area and bar.

It joins the original Little Dipper Hot Pot, owned by Melinda Zhang, which opened in Falls Church in 2016. There’s another at Rockville Town Square. Little Dipper’s $13.99 prix-fixe is the same for lunch and dinner, plus add-ons like baby octopus, crab sticks, ramen, glass noodles, and kamaboko (cured surimi, often used in Japanese kitchens).

Advice for chefs/restaurateurs contemplating hot-pot cooking?

“Do it on a small scale if you want to do it right,” said Fuyu chef Daniel Perron, referring specifically to shabu-shabu. “There is A LOT of hard work every day to get through a four to five-hour dinner service.

We hand make and cut udon noodles fresh every day. Proteins are sliced to order, and there is a lot of table maintenance and instruction by our servers for first time diners.”

For all of the above, please hold the ox blood!

CELESTE MCCALL is a Washington, D.C. food and travel writer. Contact her at 202547-5024 or by email at cmccall20003@ gmail.com.

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 5

FOOD SMARTS | Juliet Bodinetz

When it Comes to Food Safety, Which Government Agency Does What? … For Real Keeping food safe in the United States takes a concerted effort. Just about everything we eat, including food on restaurant menus, has been evaluated by one of two federal government agencies. At the local level, our food is monitored by more agencies. When parts of the federal government shut down beginning in December, we started hearing about agencies that either stopped conducting inspections or began inspecting less frequently.

So, who are the key players at the federal level?

The two main government agencies are the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). A support agency that provides guidance, research assistance, and food-borne illness outbreak tracking is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), also part of HHS.

The USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspects meat, poultry, and egg processing plants.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health agency within the USDA responsible for ensuring that the United States’ commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.

The purpose of the USDA is to support the American agricultural economy and “provide a safe, sufficient, and nutritious food supply for the American people.” Though many people may think the USDA 6 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

What about fish?

is the main inspection arm of the U.S. government due to its more visible logo (the USDA shield) on meats, eggs, poultry, and organic certifications, it’s actually the FDA that regulates over 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, including dairy, seafood, produce, packaged foods, bottled water, and eggs.

And can it be confusing? Yes! The FDA inspects shelled eggs, while the USDA is responsible for egg products, including liquid, frozen, and dehydrated eggs. The FDA regulates the feed chickens eat, but the laying facility falls under USDA jurisdiction.

The FDA The FDA is responsible for protecting the public’s health and ensuring the safety of the food supply. The FDA inspects all foods except meat, poultry, and eggs.

FDA inspectors help identify, investigate, and notify citizens of food-borne illness outbreaks. They can issue recalls — remember the romaine lettuce-based E. coli outbreaks this past year? Inspectors also help to keep food supplies safe during emergency situations where sanitation may be at risk, such as hurricanes and other natural disasters. The FDA helps educate citizens and businesses about proper food handling and potential dangers surrounding food-borne illnesses (think summer BBQ tips and Thanksgiving turkey cooking guidance). The agency

is also responsible for protecting our country’s food supply against malicious attacks and tampering that may include poisoning or contamination (think about the ALERT program for food defense).

The FDA Food Code Additionally, the FDA conducts food research, supports biotechnology, and creates documents for guidance and regulation for food production, safety, and retail practices. The main guidance document is the Food Code, which is what city and state Departments of Health use when inspecting local businesses. The Food Code is meant to keep food at safe temperatures and conditions in order to prevent food-borne illness and the spread of disease. Local, state, tribal, and federal regulators use the FDA Food Code as a model to develop or update their own food safety rules/laws and to be consistent with national food regulatory policy.

There is a four-year interval between complete Food Code editions. However, during the interim period between full editions, the FDA may publish a Food Code Supplement that updates, modifies, or clarifies certain provisions. But do state health departments respond to these changes quickly? Not really.

At the end of 2017, over half of the states in the United States were not using the most current food code recommendations, with one state still operating off the 1995 food code.

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The FDA is responsible for ensuring that the nation’s seafood supply, both domestic and imported, is safe, sanitary, wholesome, and honestly labeled. Other Federal agencies also play a role in ensuring the safety of certain seafood products.

The USDA has a regulation designed to ensure that seafood available in large retail stores is labeled to identify its country of origin. This regulation is known as COOL (Country of Origin Labeling).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service (NMFS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is responsible for the management of the nation’s fishery resources in U.S. territorial waters and also operates a voluntary seafood inspection and grading program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with FDA, sets standards for acceptable levels of contaminants in recreational fish and works with FDA on managing risk in commercial fishery products.

Local regulatory agencies State and local regulatory agencies (normally, the state and local health departments) are the front line for inspecting food establishments.

They are the ones to issue licenses and permits, investigate complaints, enforce the food code, and have the biggest bearing on the lives of food operators. They are the ones who conduct inspections, enforce regulations, issue citations, and shut operations down.

There are instances when the

FOOD SMARTS cont. page 22 foodservicemonthly

MODERN BUSINESS SOLUTIONS | Henry Pertman

Preventing Theft, Shrink, and Other Losses Or, how to decrease losses while making your restaurant a better place to work and patronize As a restaurateur, you know that you must provide great food, great service, and great ambiance. As a business person, you know you need to be successful financially, or the rest just does not matter. I read many articles every month that cover these same themes: ten ways to decrease theft in your restaurant, top ways to decrease your shrink, or ten things to provide better controls in your restaurant.

These topics are eye catching, mind catching, and important — so we read about them and maybe even learn something. The one suggestion that keeps on coming up is: “Be there!” The advice is to be in the restaurant, keep your eyes open, question everything, look under things, move things around, and so on. However, this suggestion is tantamount to encouraging you, as a restaurateur, to be distrustful and act as if you do not trust your management and staff. Sounds to me like a formula for discord and, likely, more issues.

Instead, here is a much better list of the top five ways to decrease your shrink and provide better controls: 1. Treat your employees well — as if they hold your future and the future of your business in their hands. Because they do. Show them respect, provide a wonderful place to work, give them the tools they need to be successful, and to successfully move their careers forward within or outside of the organization. Do this…and they will guard your castle as if it were their own. More importantly, they will take good care of each other and of your customers. Now you have set the stage for employees and for customers to keep their eyes and ears out for your foodservicemonthly

success. Shrink will not be thing of the past, but it surely will be minimized if staff members feel a connection to, and responsibility for, the business.

2. Make inventory important. Make various employees and managers responsible for their own little areas of ordering, pricing, and counting. Make chefs and sous chefs responsible for utilizing product in a fresh, flavorful, and meaningfully timely manner so that you are not overspending, and your customers are getting the quality, value, and service that you preach, teach, and expect. Set the bar high.

3. Provide the proper level of security needed to make sure your core values are lived and executed by every member of your staff. Let them know why security cameras are there…not to check on them for the wrong reasons, but rather so that you can better coach them to be on the floor more often, not in the office, and to help managers understand what their staff is doing so they can better be coached as well. Make this attitude one that everyone understands, lives, and executes.

4. Provide financial bonuses for managers and chefs when attainable, realistic food costs, inventory levels, labor percentages, and service levels are achieved. That is going to do more toward reducing shrink and losses, and it gives the allimportant staff members a key reason to keep each other in check.

5. Embrace reporting. After taking care of your employees, your customers, your food, your service, and your core values, learn to enjoy tracking your numbers. Live by them, die by them, buy into them. Make

them important not only to your accountant and bookkeeper but to your managers and employees.

Let them all know the truth.

Be transparent. Good, bad, and ugly, and if you treat them as you should, they will care. After all, you can teach a good employee just about anything but to care, right? If they are emotionally invested, and you accept their input regularly and with open ears and an open mind, you will have a team of caring people who care about you and your restaurant’s welfare.

The lesson? Do not isolate issues from overall processes. Shrink and loss are everyone’s responsibilities, and being there and being a hawk

is not the answer. It certainly is not the answer if you want a quality of life that values family — including the extended family outside as well as inside your restaurant. If you want to grow your business, then align your employees with the core values that make your restaurant a great one. Now is the time to recommit, and if you haven’t already, start implementing the five tactics presented here.

I’d love to hear how it goes. Drop me a line. Snail mail, email, text, or cell. They all work.

HENRY PERTMAN is director of Hospitality Consulting at CohnReznick LLP, located in the firm’s Baltimore, Maryland office. He can be contacted at 410-783-4900 or henry. pertman@cohnreznick.com.

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VISIT US MARCH 3rd & 4th 2019 OCHMRA SPRING TRADE EXPO BOOTH 518 OC CONVENTION CTR. OCEAN CITY, MD

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 7

COVER STORY | Susan L. Jones

IT’S EXPO TIME

Two Days, One Location & Thousands of Attendees!

W

inter in Ocean City will soon come alive with the 45th Annual Ocean City Spring Trade Expo on March 3 and 4. Designed to bring hospitality buyers and sellers together for two days of discovery, education, and conversation, this event is produced by the non-profit trade group, the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association.

The Expo has become a regional favorite as the OCHMRA welcomes the return of many loyal exhibitors and showcases new and emerging regional companies and products.

Attendees have the opportunity to utilize their senses to see, touch, taste, and experience the latest trends in every component of the hospitality business. Attendees can visit any or all of three exhibit halls — and leave armed with new ingredients, knowledge,

8 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

equipment ideas, and inspiration to successfully run their businesses.

This face-to-face interaction provides a valuable, efficient, and costeffective opportunity to do one-stop shopping and product comparison.

Educational Sessions In addition to sampling, the Expo offers a great chance for attendees to

learn! The OCHMRA has developed educational sessions to enhance business savvy, boost profits, amplify knowledge, share best practices, and encourage thoughtful discussion.

A complete educational session schedule is be available on the Expo website. but here is a sampling of the upcoming Expo sessions: The National Restaurant

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Association, along with the Delaware Restaurant Association and Worcester County Health Department, will be exploring substance abuse in our industry.

Recently, the DE Restaurant Association launched an online training course for managers to identify and assist employees in battling addictions. Additionally, the Worcester Health Department created a program called Addictions in the Workplace and has a wealth of resources available to employees.

These tools and interactive discussion will be the focus of the workshop, “Substance Abuse is Affecting Your Workforce…Do You Have the Tools to Handle This Growing Problem?”

The Restaurant Association of Maryland will tackle another tough issue. RAM is teaming up with attorneys Franklin & Prokopik to foodservicemonthly

OCEAN CITY SPRING TRADE EXPO March 3-4, 2019 ∙ Ocean City, MD

address a variety of employment laws, such as overtime wages, sexual harassment, tip pools, and more. The legal advice will be invaluable, so make sure you plan to attend this session.

Toast’s Food for Thought division will share “Creating a Brand That Sticks.” The restaurant industry is continuously evolving. As it does, how you market your business needs to evolve as well. How you market your restaurant is the 2019 version of “curb appeal.” Very rarely do people just walk into a restaurant any more without googling it or looking at reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp, and other online review sites. We want to make sure your business comes out on top during these searches. In this session, you’ll learn how to build your brand the right way, how to get the word out, and how to manage your online reputation to continue to grow your customer base.

TravelClick, an Amadeus company, has designed a session around the lodging attendees. They will explore how hoteliers can maximize revenue and increase bookings. Discover how to ACQUIRE the right guests at the right price, CONVERT shoppers into bookers, and RETAIN guests to create customers for life, using interconnected business intelligence and data-driven solutions.

Essential System Solutions and CohnReznick are teaming up to deliver a session for managers titled, “Training your Team to Provide the Best Guest Experience.” Two industry experts will discuss how to use POS tools, detailed sales data, and traditional techniques to train your staff to provide the best guest experience. foodservicemonthly

EXPO FACTS! NEW VIP Buyer Hour on Monday The Expo is not open to the public, therefore, to walk the show floor, you must be a buyer or guest in the industry, and you must be 21.

Join APPI Energy for an educational discussion on the recent change from propane to natural gas in the Ocean City market. In this session, speakers will review information about the switch and the incentives of natural gas, and how Ocean City businesses can save money on both natural gas and electricity supply costs.

Entercom Communications Corporation will deliver, “Online Advertising — How to Be a Contender.”

Digital now makes up 51.5 percent of the total ad dollars spend in the U.S. This is an all-time high, and it is expected to increase year over year for the foreseeable future. While there are many platforms under the ‘digital’ umbrella, Search is the reigning king. In 2017, Search made up 49 percent of total digital ad dollars spend. Why? Because while social, video, and other platforms can reach your target audience, none can position you to “be there when they need you” as Search can.

Entercom will address both sides of the ‘Search’ coin — Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — to enable

attendees to better understand these powerful online advertising tools.

Delmarva Two-Way Radio, Inc. of Ocean City has announced its new “Digital Long Range” Radio System and will showcase this instant communication during its session.

Using digital radios loaded into the wide area data network used by cellular companies, Delmarva TwoWay Radio offers unlimited twoway radio service throughout the Baltimore-Washington metro area, as well as throughout the shore and beyond. The small radios provide a street legal means for companies to communicate in an instant and offer additional capabilities such as “Push to Talk Identification,” “Private Call,” and “Text Messaging.” When combined with GPS tracking and reporting, this new service provides a full communications solution to any business.

Todd Collins operates RestaurantReputations.com, and he’ll present “Supercharging Your Social Media and Stopping Negative Reviews.”

The Newsmagazine Foodservice Professionals Rely On

EXPO cont. page 10

Hotel, motel, restaurant, catering, concessions, bed & breakfast, condo/property management, campground, coffee house, ice cream store, nightclub, liquor store, convenience store, cafeteria, nursing home, schools/ colleges, and hospitals are all welcome.

Expo management reserves the right to determine if your registration fits these parameters. If you sell to these types of businesses, you would be considered an exhibitor and must purchase a booth to attend the Expo.

Expo hours: Sunday, March 3 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Monday, March 4 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

VIP Buyer Only hour, Monday from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.

After February 28, on-site registration is $15 per person with proof of being in the industry.

Proof includes: A business card or license or letter from employer on the company letterhead. Paystubs are not accepted.

For complete Expo information, check out www.oceancitytradeexpo. com or call 410-289-6733.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 9

EXPO

cont. from page 10 His company provides social media and reputation management strategies to restaurants highlighted on the Food Network, such as Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, Pappas Crab Cakes, Nacho Mama’s, and more. Learn how, with patented strategies, he has helped these brands go viral, reach national brand awareness, and protect against negative customer reviews.

Mixing It Up on the Culinary Showcase Stage talents, O’Neale remains humble.

He cites perseverance as a way to get things accomplished. His latest passion is following his idea to open a Vegas restaurant. Come meet Shaun O’Neale as he entertains at the Trade Expo on Sunday and Monday at noon. Following his cooking demos, he’ll do meet and greets!

David Thomas Shaun O’Neale

Paint, Pose & Pour Pavilion Noting the popularity of providing interactive elements to trade shows, the OCHMRA has added a new area which will feature an abundance of activity. Located on the second level in the Ballroom, “Paint, Pose & Pour” will allow attendees to experience each of those activities.

TC Studios will provide the paint experience by teaching attendees the elements of painting a food and wine scene. Attendees will paint their own version with guidance from owner Ali Jacobs. Photo Booth OC will offer many different costumes and scenarios for posing and posting at their station.

For the Pour part, new Wine On Tap Distributor, Tap 26, will partner with the Bubbles & Brews Prosecco and Craft Beer Bar to feature prosecco, wine, and beer on a vintage Piaggio Ape. To catch an advance glimpse of this vintage beauty, check out, bubblesbrewbar. com or check the photo above!

Craft Beer Connection For those restaurateurs who are ready to grow profits and support a local movement, check this out. Close to 30 breweries, from throughout Maryland, Delaware, D.C. and Virginia will be featured in the Dockside Hall. Take a moment

10 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

Back by popular demand, winner of MasterChef season 7, Shaun O’Neale, will entertain the audience with his charming personality and sharp culinary skills on both Sunday and Monday! O’Neale’s initial obsession was music, and he DJ’d lots of famous parties in Vegas.

However, one thing has remained constant for him through the crazy years — his absolute obsession with all things food! He has had the honor to cook for and learn from true masters in the culinary world, including Gordon Ramsay, Christina Tosi, Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud, Richard Blais, Aaron Sanchez, Edward Lee, and Kevin Sbraga.

Transitioning from DJ to chef was a fairly simple task for O’Neale. As a DJ, he mixes music to create a new beat that is all his own. As a chef, he mixes up a variety of ingredients to create something unique.

Though he has been traveling around the globe showcasing his to learn from these breweries how to implement a craft beer beverage program as the brewmasters will be on hand to discuss all the aspects of their craft.

Latte Art Latte art will be created by a local barista and can be viewed in Eastern Shore Coffee & Water’s booths 228229 on the lower level in Exhibit

On Monday, March 4, the Culinary Showcase Stage line-up features a cooking demo with Chopped winner Chef David Thomas. Chef Thomas is currently the executive chef and partner at Ida B’s Table, located in Baltimore, where he was born and raised. Chef Thomas’ love for food developed at a young age as he watched his grandmother cook for hours. Fast forward to the 90s when he and wife Tonya started catering and continued working in industry restaurants. In 2000, in his pursuit to elevate his skills, he went to work for Master Chef Kevin Zabonick. Under Zabonick, Chef Thomas learned classic techniques and every aspect of the brigade system, one station at a time. Soon after his training was completed, he became executive chef at the Metropolitan Kitchen/Lounge in Annapolis, Maryland. There, he developed his signature genre as a chef — modern soul food.

In 2012, Chef Thomas, along with his business partner, opened Herb & Soul, a farm-to-table, local Hall A/B. See the latte art as it’s made on Sunday and Monday. Currently, Expo organizers are also working with Ocean 98 to develop Monday afternoon fun — stay tuned for those details!

Show Specials and New Products are Plentiful APPI Energy has launched a new energy efficiency division, offering

The Newsmagazine Foodservice Professionals Rely On

Jen Rynda

and sustainable café. The demand for Herb & Soul grew to the point that he opened another location, developed a catering program, and launched a food truck. After Herb & Soul ran its course, the chef became a consultant and helped open restaurants. His consulting work lead him to a concept that would become Ida B’s Table. He was brought on as a partner in order to create something in Baltimore that was for Baltimore. Sticking with the local and sustainable model of modern soul food, Chef Thomas built the restaurant and menu from the ground up, focusing on highlighting the history and importance of soul food. Ida B’s Table has become nationally recognized in multiple publications, including Food and Wine, Garden & Gun, Eater, and Life & Thyme.

Chef Thomas’ goal is to reclaim the narrative of soul food on a national platform… starting with Baltimore. clients the opportunity to further reduce their energy expenses and carbon footprint with lighting retrofits and LEDs. Along with APPI Energy’s electricity and natural gas supply procurement, the firm is offering free audits to help businesses determine cost-savings associated with a lighting efficiency project. Visit booth 404.

EXPO cont. page 12 foodservicemonthly

FRESH. LOCAL.

The Maryland Wholesale Produce and Seafood Markets in Jessup, MD... ...the places to go for the freshest variety of produce and seafood.

Produce: 410-799-3880 | Seafood: 410-799-0141 Visit MFCA website for more information.

Owned and operated by:

foodservicemonthly

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 11

Lodging: Many OC hotels offer discounts for Expo attendees.

Find a list here: https://oceancitytradeexpo.com/lodging.

EXPO

cont. from page 10 Frank Ali with Delmarva Serv Safe is offering 2019 Trade Show special pricing: 5 students at your location: $ 775.00-SAVE $50.00.

10 students at your location: $1550.00-SAVE $100.00.

Call 732-616-6884, Fara3x2@ verizon.net, or visit booth 212.

A brand new company, Dough 2 Go, is hitting the market and specializes in fresh dough. Serving the MidAtlantic region, the dough is custom made and delivered in any size and quantity needed. Visit Dough 2 Go in booth 311.

Long-time exhibitor, Ecolab, will be showcasing a new, ventless warewashing system. This dishwashing system has an integrated heat recovery system that captures steam to enable ventless operating.

Its high pressure rinse technology reduces water and energy useage by 50 percent. And, it has automated procedures that allow for less reliance on the operator. Take a peek at booths 222-223.

Sure to be a hit is a new Cashless Fun Card Pass by Entertainment Experts. This cashless game is designed to create marketing opportunities for hotels and restaurants to promote family entertainment. The best part is it is free to put in hotels and restaurants.

12 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

Check it out at booth 2415.

Essential System Solutions will have the newest version of MobileBytes POS. This savvy system includes online ordering, a loyalty program, and pay at the table, coupled with Avero advanced reporting. This allows restaurant operators to fully manage their POS system, staff, and guests from anywhere. How cool is that? See for yourself in booth 614.

Industry veteran Jim Hoffman of Market First will showcase the Reverse Tap, a direct draw beer system that fills the cup from the bottom, delivering a 20-oz. beer in seven seconds and providing the operator a 97 percent yield on product.

He’ll also showcase IR Energy’s

premium gas-fired luxury outdoor heaters, which deliver high energy output while using fewer BTUs than competitor products. TOP GOLF, for example, uses IR Energy for all its locations. Visit booths 1016-1017.

MD Coastal Bays will be unveiling a new program promoting source reduction. This is a better way to manage our waste stream and environment. Ocean City Green Team is working on providing tools, information, and promotions to encourage and support greener businesses. Stay tuned as the group will be providing tools for greener purchases and promotions for those who participate. You’ll find them in the upstairs lobby.

Paychex will be introducing Paychex Learning. Eighty-seven percent of millennials rate “professional or career growth and development opportunities” as important to them in a job, ranking such opportunities as more important than even cash bonuses.

Companies that produce strong employee engagement scores also produce revenue growth that is 2.5 times higher than companies with lower engagement scores. By making training and e-learning a priority, you can help employees — of any generation — stay engaged, focused, and interested in continually honing

their skills. Paychex now offers a seamlessly integrated solution for providing professional training courses to your workforce — potentially improving retention and diminishing costly turnover Learn more at booth 1006.

Seacrets Distilling is unveiling a new product that promises to please many palettes — Bumbleberry Vodka (it just sounds delicious!).

Seven times distilled and made with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, it has somewhat of a grape juice/sangria taste but with stronger notes of sweet blueberries and blackberries. Sample Bumbleberry Vodka at booths 2505 and 2514.

New exhibitor, URETEK, offers cost savings solutions to commercial properties where there are concrete settlement issues. All businesses should be ADA compliant, and URETEK has a patented method that is extremely effective in solving these issues without any excavation.

If URETEK can’t solve the problem, there’s no fee for the client! Find URETEK at booth 910.

A legend in the foodservice industry, Bill Fischbein of WSF Food Brokerage, is celebrating a 30th anniversary! Thanks for being a loyal exhibitor, Bill! (See Advertiser Spotlight on page 23.)

While in OC, MD The public is invited to the OC Center for the Arts First Friday Reception from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 1. Attendees at this free reception can meet the artists and enjoy hors d’oeuvres at the same time! Browse the hand-made pottery, jewelry, and two floors of artwork. More information is available at www. artleagueofoceancity.org. The Art League of Ocean City is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the visual arts to the community through education, exhibits, scholarship, programs, and community art projects.

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The Ocean City Lifesaving Museum is located at the south end of the boardwalk and is open from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Take some time to reminisce with our Ocean City memories or let yourself travel back through time to join the heroic Surfmen of the US LifeSaving Service on a rescue mission.

Sands from around the world are on display, and the Aquarium Room features species from our waters. The Boardwalk of Yesterday highlights boardwalk scenes and is a true gem, complete with good ‘ol Laughin’ Sal, an everlasting attraction of OC’s historic fun house. foodservicemonthly

FSM NEWS | Lisa Keathley

In Memoriam: John G. Laytham

John Laytham, 74, passed away on January 3, 2019, after fighting a heart condition for many years. Coowner and CEO of Clyde’s Restaurant Group, he helped the company to grow and prosper during his more

than 50-year tenure.

Laytham moved to Washington, D.C. in 1963 to attend Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, just three months after Stuart C. Davidson opened the now famous saloon, Clyde’s of Georgetown.

Laytham took a part-time job at Clyde’s and, within five years, moved from determined dishwasher to partner. Over the ensuing decades, he served in many executive capacities with the local restaurant chain and helped it grow to include thirteen locations in D.C., Northern Virginia, and Maryland.

Laytham received many business, industry, and lifetime achievement awards, including the 2010 Washington Business Hall of Fame Laureate award. He was a force behind Clyde’s School/

Work Program, a school-to-work partnership with D.C. public schools that provided inner-city kids with academic mentoring, job training, part-time employment, and recreational activities.

“John was a giant of a man and a lion in the industry,” said Tom Meyer, president of Clyde’s Restaurant Group.

“His fingerprints will forever be visible throughout the restaurant scene and on the countless lives he’s impacted. I count myself among the many lucky enough to call him a boss, a friend, mentor, and father figure.”

New VP at Saval Brian Saval has been named as vice president at Saval Foodservice, Maryland’s largest independent broad line foodservice distributor. Brian

is a fourth generation member of the family business that started 87 years ago. In his new role, he will be responsible for training the sales force, creating new partnerships, and executing the company’s strategic vision.

Saval, 32, joined the family business in 2009 as a sales representative in Baltimore City.

FSM NEWS cont. page 14

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 13

FSM NEWS

cont. from page 13 In 2013, he changed roles to work in national sales for Deli Brands of America, the manufacturing subsidiary of Saval Foods Corporation. He transitioned back to Saval Foodservice in 2015 to manage the Baltimore regional sales team, delivering record-breaking growth year after year.

Brian Saval brings a wealth of experience to the Saval team, having learned the business from his father, president and CEO, Paul Saval.

Said dad, “Brian’s passion for the business, sales accomplishments, and leadership qualities have earned him this next step in becoming a senior leader in our organization.”

Waste not, want not Equinox Restaurant will present its first annual “Not Wasted Dinner” on February 18. “As we celebrate our 20th year in business,” said Equinox co-owner Ellen Kassoff, “we’re more committed than ever to taking dramatic steps to decrease the restaurant’s carbon footprint. The dinner will showcase how you can utilize otherwise wasted ingredients

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GROWN

and have a sumptuous dining experience at the same time.”

Equinox chef and co-owner Todd Gray will host the dinner, along with guest chefs Michelle Brown, Teaism; Gregory Payne, Sodexo; and Robert Wood, SuperFd Catering. They will create a four-course dinner made from “trash ingredients” like roots, stems, and cuttings. Special “trashed” cocktails — using forgotten bits of bar fruit in syrups, garnishes, and mixers — will be crafted by Peter Grimm, Equinox Restaurant’s bar manager and mixologist.

The evening will also feature an interactive discussion about eradicating food waste in the hospitality industry. Confirmed panelists include Amanda Stone, World Wildlife Fund; Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, Together We Bake; Hilary Landa, Ad Council; Laura Monto, Sodexo; and panel moderator Lesly Baesens, DC Food Recovery Working Group. Tickets are $65 and may be purchased at: https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/not-wasteddinner-at-equinox-restauranttickets-55034372289.

Olivia joins the D.C. scene Ashok Bajaj of Knightsbridge Restaurant Group has opened his

RAMW NEWS

cont. from page 3

FARM CHEF

GLOBAL

14 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

hospitality and, in fact, was among the first to jump in to help, to support those in need, and to feed the community. From the very first day of the shutdown and even at many weeks in, restaurants that were able to do so were giving away food to workers and families on furlough.

It was not just specials, discounts, and happy hour pricing, though there was plenty of that to go around.

There were free tacos at Taco Bamba locations, meatball subs at Carmine’s, free pizzas, sandwiches, coffee, or just a place to go to get out of the house with no expectation to purchase anything. Restaurateur José Andrés, who received the RAMMYS Exceptional Leadership and Impact Award just last summer for his incredible efforts to feed those in Puerto Rico, opened an outpost of

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latest venture, Olivia, in the heart of the Penn Quarter at 800 F Street, NW. Olivia replaces Bajaj’s American brasserie concept Nopa Kitchen + Bar, which opened in April 2013.

Matt Kuhn will stay on to serve as executive chef for Olivia, after serving as exec chef for Nopa and before that, Bajaj’s neighborhood restaurant, Ardeo+Bardeo.

Olivia, which comes from the Latin origin, meaning “olive tree,” will offer rustic Mediterranean cuisine.

In preparation, Kuhn traveled throughout the coastal regions of Spain to immerse himself in its rustic Mediterranean flavors. At this new concept, guests can anticipate an abundance of vegan and vegetarian options, as well as chicken, lamb, and fish dishes.

Olivia features a 90-seat main dining room, where canvas sails and lanterns give the illusion of a casbah tent, along with a 38-seat lounge area reminiscent of a Casablanca speakeasy. Martin Vahtra of Projects Design Associates of New York, a James Beard Foundation’s awardnominated restaurant designer, created the design. http://www. oliviawdc.com. his World Central Kitchen in D.C. to feed thousands of workers and families who were not receiving paychecks during the shutdown.

This has certainly been a rough spot for our local economy. The D.C. area will bounce back, but we can only hope that all of the people and businesses affected will also rebound from what has been a very difficult, and many would say unnecessary, setback.

Amidst it all, the foodservice and restaurant communities are part of an incredible industry, fueled at its core with a passion to feed people and take care of them. We are honored to be part of it and to support such a generous industry where people give first, whenever and wherever they can.

KATHY E. HOLLINGER is president and CEO of Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington.

foodservicemonthly

Insurance...Plus! | Michael Gabriel

Serving Maryland, DC, Northern Virginia & Surrounding Areas

Martin Bamberger Co. Food Market & Restaurant Equipment Serving the food and bakery industry for more than 70 years with honesty and integrity

The Importance of Written Strategies for Proper Kitchen Safety Everyone in the food business knows the importance of food handling safety. Equally important is proper kitchen safety. Preventing accidents and claims in the kitchen has many benefits: • Safe employees are happy and productive employees. A safety culture promotes teamwork and a culture of caring, which helps attract and retain good people.

• Accidents lead to disruption and downtime.

• Accidents directly affect Workers’ Compensation costs.

• Insurance carriers look favorably on establishments with strong kitchen safety procedures and guidelines in place. This makes your business a more desirable risk and can help reduce your insurance costs.

As mentioned in a previous FSM article on Workers’ Compensation claims, many injuries occur when proper equipment procedures are not followed, or when employees are in a hurry to complete the tasks in food preparation and service. Equipment, knives, and general kitchen layout can all present hazards. These hazards must be assessed and addressed by implementing proper procedures and training.

In many independent commercial kitchens, procedures are only verbally relayed but are never formalized in writing. Training often

foodservicemonthly

is “on the fly” or as time permits.

A little attention on the front end helps prevent accidents and makes your establishment more attractive to the insurance marketplace. This can start simply by posting and documenting a checklist of safety procedures and policies before each shift starts and ends.

Here are some basic guidelines to consider when working on your kitchen safety program.

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• Assure that equipment is secured to bench tops and tables.

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• Use caution when working with equipment containing sharp edges and blades; use no-cut gloves whenever possible.

• Assure that protective equipment, aprons, ties, clothing, and jewelry are secure and cannot be caught in the equipment.

• Assure that all machine guards are in place prior to operating the equipment; do not remove or modify the machine guards.

• Be aware of pinch and nip points that may be unguarded; if possible, install guards to control hazards.

• Turn off and unplug equipment prior to cleaning and servicing. If

INSURANCE...PLUS! cont. page 19

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 15

From the Sea | Tim Sughrue

Fresh Venezuelan HPP Crabmeat — If You Don’t Get It, You Don’t Get It! Prior to October 2017, fresh Venezuelan crabmeat had a somewhat significant, but primarily a niche market, when you looked

across the spectrum of crabmeat consumed by restaurateurs in the U.S. This crabmeat had plenty of pros and cons, but the biggest

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limiting factor to expanding the user base was its shelf life. You had maybe a 72-hour window to use it.

The short story Lake Maracaibo is a large, brackish tidal bay that feeds into the Gulf of Venezuela, which is part of the Caribbean Sea. Covering 5,200 square miles, it is considered the largest “lake” in South America.

The blue crab that inhabits Lake Maracaibo is the identical genus and species (Callinectus sappidus) that swims in the Chesapeake Bay. Crabs are caught in pots by hundreds of small boat (20-25 foot skiffs) fishermen who fish daily and return to the plants with their catch.

The plants pick daily, and their capacity to process raw material is staggering. It is not uncommon for a single picking plant to pick, with 400 crab pickers, up to 50,000 pounds of live crabs in a day!!! There are about 20 plants around the entire lake with a capacity to process almost one MILLION pounds of live crab a day!

The plants are located within a short distance (25-minute drive) of the airport. With Miami’s International Airport only a 2.5 hour flight, meat can be processed and easily delivered in the U.S.

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In June of 2017, the Maryland Health Department, the CDC, and the FDA launched an investigation into allegations of vibrio poisoning from fresh Venezuelan crabmeat.

There were seven confirmed cases of vibrio across four states. In the end, the government did not find any vibrio in any of the samples sent to labs after the investigation started, but the damage had already been done. With all the bad press, no The Newsmagazine Foodservice Professionals Rely On

responsible restaurateur would touch fresh Venezuelan crabmeat with a proverbial 10-foot pole. For the first time in 20 years, Congressional stopped selling fresh Venezuelan crabmeat.

What is HPP? I got a call the first week of August (2019) from a Venezuelan supplier telling me about this new HPP process on fresh crabmeat.

HPP has been around for decades, frequently used on fresh juices in grocery stores. The letters HPP stand for High Pressure Pasteurization.

He explained that by putting the crabmeat in a hyperbaric chamber for only three minutes at 87,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, it killed ALL food-born pathogens AND gave the meat a 21-day SHELF LIFE!! Of course, I was skeptical and immediately asked for a sample. Over the next 30 days, my staff and I had fresh Venezuelan crabcakes every Friday for lunch (from the original sample). To everyone’s amazement, the crabmeat lasted LONGER than 21 days. It tasted just as fresh on the third Friday as it did on the first Friday!

HPP is a cold pressure pasteurization technique that kills all micro-organisms but also maintains the crabmeat’s original flavor and nutrients. This fact is important because it highlights one of the most important differences between traditional “canned” pasteurized and HPP meat — FLAVOR! No matter how good the chef is, when you make a crabcake from regular pasteurized meat, you can always taste “the can” in the meat. It is an aftertaste that varies from mild to strong, depending on the quality and

FROM THE SEA cont. page 22 foodservicemonthly

BALTI-MORE | Dara Bunjon

KIRWAN’S ON THE WHARF

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You dream it, we build it.

Charm*d Kitchen: Always Something Cooking Passion is the word that best describes Christa Bruno (chef) and Shadee Holden (baker) and their combined visions for this small, urban corner restaurant-bakery-bar, Charm*d Kitchen.

Bruno’s love of food was sparked at her Italian grandmother’s side and continued as her journey took her to restaurants in Baltimore, Maine, and Milan. She was also a popular personal chef/caterer in Los Angeles. Holden grew up in New Jersey. His early restaurant apprenticeships started at the age of 13 and eventually garnered him a scholarship to Johnson & Wales University. His degrees both in culinary and pastry arts, along with work experience in fine dining restaurants in Philadelphia and Baltimore, were the foundations for his love of baking. Both chef and baker are alumni of Baltimore’s fine dining Italian restaurant, Sotto Sopra.

Charm*d Kitchen is open seven days a week at 6:30 a.m. for walkaway Ceremony coffees and the bakery’s offerings — croissants, bagels, and Danish pastries. At 9:00 a.m., seated breakfast service starts, including omelets, waffles, and more. Lunch kicks in at 11:00 a.m.

The grueling schedule continues foodservicemonthly

Charm*d Kitchen 123 South Chester Street Baltimore MD 21231 443-627-8369 www.charmedkitchen.com info@charmedkitchen.com Social Media: @charmedkitchen

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Wednesday through Sundays with happy hour, small plates, dinner service, and a full bar in the evening hours.

Christa says, “Shadee’s whole wheat, sour dough baguette is the neighborhood crack…we can’t make enough.” Shown in the photograph above with Bruno (L) and Holden (R) are the vegan loaf, made of brown rice, red quinoa, flax seed, and oats, and the Sicilian loaf, with tahini and sesame seeds.

As it was with Christa’s nonna — Charm*d Kitchen will always have something cooking.

DARA BUNJON: Dara Does It — Creative Solutions for the Food Industry, offers public relations, social media training, administration, freelance writing, marketing, and more. Contact Dara: 410-486-0339, info@dara-does-it.com or www.dara-does-it. com; Twitter and Instagram: @daracooks.

Listen to her Dining Dish radio program on Baltimore Internet Radio.

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 17

BOB BROWN SAYS | Bob Brown

Master the Art of Greeting: Set the Stage for a Powerful Performance If you’re leaning up against the wall, you’re missing out on tons of cues that uncover opportunities to dazzle and delight.

Most of us size up our server in the first few minutes, or even seconds.

That’s why, how well you manage the greeting — with its multitude of opportunities to express warmth and thoughtfulness — sets the stage for a boon or a bust.

be left alone or pampered?

Remember, if you’re leaning up against the wall, you’re missing out on tons of cues that uncover opportunities to dazzle and delight. While you help a guest with a chair, you can also eavesdrop with the intent to help. Overhearing, “Wow, I’m ready for a stiff drink,” provides an obvious lead in, “Our bartender Billy from Philly makes a mean Patrón Margarita.”

1. Assist guests everywhere: Years ago, I helped a couple waiting for a table, as they perused the menu at the service bar of the Georgetown Seafood Grill. “I see you’re checking out the crab cakes. They’re the best in town, made with fresh jumbo lump crabmeat lightly bound with mayonnaise, Dijon, and Old Bay Seasoning. And by the way, a bottle of our Robert Mondavi Chardonnay would be a perfect match.” Minutes later they were seated in my station and ordered exactly what I suggested!

3. Touch the table: Most tables are blanketed in a bubble of resistance — a wall of yakking, texting, and surfing.

Graciously moving the salt and pepper shaker or adjusting the petunias is thoughtful, but more importantly awakens and inspires guests to stop, look, and listen.

2. Help seat guests: Being at your table from the get-go is not only courteous but smart business.

Are your guests dressed to kill? Do they have Christmas presents? Did they bring their children? Do they want to

4. Find the leader/buyer: Most tables have an in-charge kind of person. She influences the buying habits of the table. She controls the conversation. She has the power. First, find her, and then stand across from her

when greeting the table. If she likes your approach, she’ll root for you and make certain fellow guests follow.

around!” Or, “Since you’re here sightseeing, don’t miss our crab cakes. They’re hard to find in Montana!”

5. Use icebreakers: Shooting the breeze unlocks a wealth of information to act on regarding the purpose and context of a guest’s visit.

• “I love your pin!” provides insight into how people spend. “I bought this pin at Nordstrom.” Now you know you have an educated buyer who’s open to quality.

• “Is this your first time with us?” opens the door in two ways: A “yes” answer provides an opportunity to give an overview of your menu, wine, and beverage lists. A “no” answer allows you to inquire about their last experience.

“What was your favorite appetizer?”

• “What brings you to Georgetown? will inspire guests to tell you if they’re tourists, live in the neighborhood, are attending a convention, visiting relatives, celebrating an anniversary, or closing a deal.

• “Are you in town for business or pleasure?” helps you adjust your approach. “You’re here for the medical convention, and it’s your last night? Well, that calls for a celebration with our bone-in rib-eye and a bottle of Silver Oak all

6. Make hello special: “Hi, my name is Tyler. May I offer you a cocktail?” is robotic and dooms you from the start.

“Good evening and welcome to Rockwell’s. Thanks for your patience, we’re delighted to have you,” is warm and relationship focused.

There now. You’ve laid the groundwork for a powerful performance.

BOB Brown works with hospitality icons such as Disney, Hilton, Morton’s of Chicago, Nordstrom, Olive Garden, and RitzCarlton and works internationally with the prestigious 7-Star Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

He has appeared on the Food Network and is author of The Little Brown Book of Restaurant Success, selling over 100,000 copies worldwide. Bob was the #1 presenter at at the National Restaurant Show in 2017 and 2018. Contact Bob at 571-246-2944 ©Bob Brown Service Solutions 2016. www. bobbrownss.com.

FSM ADVERTISERS SUPPORT THE FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY OF THE MID-ATLANTIC WHEN THEY SHARE THEIR MESSAGE EACH MONTH. CONTACT LISA SILBER, SALES MANAGER: 301-591-9822 OR LISA@FOODSERVICEMONTHLY.COM FOR THE BEST WAY TO REACH THE REGION’S BUYERS.

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS Tell them you saw it in Foodservice Monthly Acme Paper.............................................................. 21 Barter........................................................................ 17 Bi-Lingual Hospitality............................................... 21 EMR.......................................................................... 13 Essential System Solutions..................................... 19

18 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

Forrester Construction............................................ 17 Holt.............................................................................. 5 H M Wagner.................................... Inside Back Cover Itek Construction...................................................... 15 Keany Produce......................................................... 14 Martin Bamberger Co.............................................. 15 Maryland Food Center Authority............................. 11 Oceana....................................................................... 1 The Newsmagazine Foodservice Professionals Rely On

OCHMRA..................................................................... 3 Performance Food Group..........................Back Cover RAM EF..................................................................... 23 R&R Coatings........................................................... 22 Saval Food Service........................Inside Front Cover Singer Equipment.................................................... 23 Tech 24 Construction.............................................. 16 Valley Protein.............................................................. 7 foodservicemonthly

Insurance...Plus!

cont. from page 15 equipment cannot be unplugged, follow organization lockout/tagout procedures.

• Do not remove blockages or items caught in the equipment by hand, while the equipment is running, or while it is plugged in.

Musculoskeletal hazards:

possible.

• Never place knives on the edge of benches or tables.

• Place dirty knives in a pan or dish labeled “for knives only.”

• Do not interrupt or talk to someone who is using a knife.

Slips, trips, and falls:

Knives:

• Clean up food and liquid spills immediately; mark the area with a sign indicating a wet floor.

• Store knives in a storage box or sheaths to prevent accidental cuts.

• Place slip-resistant mats in areas with a higher potential for slips.

• Never hand another employee a knife; place the knife on a clean surface and have the other employee pick it up.

• Assure that drains and floor openings are covered to prevent trips.

• Never catch a falling knife.

• Use cut-resistant gloves when

• Maintain good housekeeping, with passageways and open areas free of clutter and unused items.

• Adjust the work station layout to prevent overreaching, elevated reaching, and repetitive motion.

• Rotate tasks throughout the work shift to prevent stress and strain.

• When lifting large items, lift with your legs and knees.

• Heavy objects may require more than one person to lift them.

• Reduce lifting by placing items on chest-height table tops; do not store items overhead.

Basic guidelines: • Follow all organization safety and health procedures.

• Wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

• Ask questions if you are unsure about the job you are asked to do.

Achieving a strong safety culture within any establishment starts at the top of the organization.

Ownership and management must work diligently to create a strong safety-first culture. Start by taking all steps to assure a safe workplace for everyone on your team.

MICHAEL GABRIEL is director of business development for Diversified Insurance Industries, Inc. Before joining DII, he spent over 35 years in the foodservice industry. He and the DII team help clients by analyzing past experience, providing guidance on risk reduction strategies, and developing plans to lower the total cost of risk. Connect with Michael at Linkedin, contact him directly at michael.gabriel@dii-ins.com, or 410-4333000, ext. 696.

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 19

THE LATEST DISH | Linda Roth

Rooster by Day and Owl by Night!

Carey and Yuan Tan have progressed from pop-up dinners to a brick and mortar restaurant, Rooster & Owl, which is slated to open in early February in the space where Crème was at 2436 14th Street, NW. Carey, aka the rooster, is the general manager. She also has a day job at a nonprofit. Yuan is the late-working chef, aka owl. Yuan worked at JeanGeorges and Dovetail in NYC. Serving New American cuisine from a prixfixe menu, all dishes are to be shared.

It seats 50 people, with a six-seat bar and patio dining in warm weather.

Jason Swaringen, of The Green Zone, is consulting on the beverage program.

Ch-ch-changes…

Quick hits…

Amy Brandwein, chef/owner of Centrolina, will open Piccolina this summer 2019, across the alley in CityCenterDC in the space where RareSweets was, serving breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. The woodfired oven will bake bread and cook breakfast dishes. Piccolina will allow more private dining options within Centrolina.

Austin, Texas-based Truluck’s Seafood Steak & Crab House has signed to open at 7th and K Streets, NW, aiming for a Q4 2019 opening.

Nicholas Stefanelli, chef/owner of Masseria and Officina, plans to open a Greek restaurant at Midtown Center.

Ballston’s Liberty Center at 4040 Wilson Blvd. will include The Salt Line, from Long Shot Hospitality’s Jeremy Carman, Gavin Coleman, Paul Holder, and Chef Kyle Bailey, at its Q2 2020 opening.

Knead Hospitality + Design will open The Grill, which will be its second restaurant at The Wharf. The 5,400-square-foot eatery is slated to 20 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

Nostalgic photos at Georgetown’s Mono Diner open Q4 2019 with 200 seats, which includes an outdoor patio with an indoor/outdoor bar. NYC-based Taim (“tasty” in Hebrew) plans to open a store serving its Mediterranean fare in Georgetown at 1065 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, near Filomena, in Q3 2019.

Maria & Fabio Trabocchi will open their third Sfoglina in Rosslyn at 1100 Wilson Blvd. The first two are in D.C. (Casa Luca converted into a Sfoglina).

The Trabocchi’s will take over the operations of JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa’s fine-dining restaurant, Fiola at Dopolavoro Venezia, slated to open in April 2019. They recently opened a Fiola in Coral Gables, Florida. The Trabocchi’s also own and operate Fiola DC, Fiola Mare, and Del Mar.

Just opened…

Chaia has opened its second D.C.

location at 615 I Street, NW, near Mount Vernon Triangle. The fast casual vegetable taco restaurant started by Bettina Stern and Suzanne Simon as a “farm-to-taco” stand at D.C. area farmers’ markets, before opening in Georgetown in 2015.

Flower Child opens its second area location, in D.C. at 2112 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, near the George Washington University campus, on February 4. Notti 824 restaurant opened in Foggy Bottom’s new(ish) Arc the Hotel at 824 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. London-based Arjun Waney’s restaurant group, which has a record of opening uber cool restaurants around the globe, is slated to open two restaurants at Midtown Center in D.C. — Shoto, a restaurant with a sushi counter, a bar, and a Japanese robata grill, and Akedo, a fast-casual lunch spot that plans to be a lounge at night.

The Newsmagazine Foodservice Professionals Rely On

Kudos to 1310 Kitchen & Bar

by Jenn Crovato in Georgetown for the speediest light renovation — in just a week. Full renovation of floors, furniture, and lighting will be completed in March. The motivational quotes on the Wisconsin Avenue-facing front windows reflect the positive energy.

And speaking of Georgetown, Mono Diner, with nostalgic photos and menu items named for 1940s old Hollywood, is slated to open in Q1 2019 at 1424 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. The diner will serve breakfast all day, is open late, and for 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays. The general manager, Eric Spruill-Jenkins, was previously with Uncle Maddio’s Pizza in Frederick, Maryland. Lunch and dinner service are also in the works.

LINDA ROTH is president of Linda Roth Associates, Inc. specializing in marketing, promotions, and publicity in the hospitality industry. Contact Linda at 202-888-3571 or linda@lindarothpr.com, or visit her website at www.lindarothpr.com.

foodservicemonthly

ASSOCIATION NEWS RAM | Marshall Weston

Fufills All Maryland Health Department Requirements Recommended by: Coastal Sunbelt Produce, Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Foodservice Monthly, MICROS, PFG, RAMW & SAVAL

ACME PAPER & SUPPLY

Back to the 80’s The Restaurant Association of Maryland Stars of the Industry Awards Gala is quickly approaching, with this year’s theme, “Back to the 80’s.” This annual celebration of Maryland’s foodservice and hospitality industry will be held in Baltimore on Sunday, May 5 at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Public nominations for our 2019 awards categories will open to the public beginning Wednesday, February 6 and stay open for two weeks until Wednesday, February 20.

Nominations can be submitted online in categories including: • Chef of the Year (sponsored by Micros Mid-Atlantic) • Maryland’s Favorite Restaurant • Maryland’s Favorite Bar or Tavern • Craft Brew Program of the Year (sponsored by Evolution Craft Brewing Company) • Maryland’s Favorite New Restaurant

foodservicemonthly

• Restaurateur of the Year (sponsored by the Maryland Restaurant & Hospitality Self Insurance Fund)

• Restaurant Equipment & Smallwares • Sustainable Foodservice Packaging • Janitorial Equipment & Green Cleaning Supplies

• Heart of the Industry • Allied Member of the Year Introduced for the first time this year are two brand new award categories: Maryland’s Favorite Fast Casual Restaurant and Favorite International Cuisine Restaurant.

Public voting for finalists will occur online from Monday, March 11 through Monday, April 1.

Winners are determined by the highest number of unique votes cast online and by “liking” the official voting image on the Restaurant Association of Maryland Facebook Page. Winners will be announced at the Stars of the Industry Awards Gala.

To learn more, get involved, or submit your nominations, visit marylandrestaurants.com/gala.

MARSHALL WESTON is the executive director of the Restaurant Association of Maryland.

Visit us at the OCHMRA show Booth #’s 505, 506, & 507

www.acmepaper.com 800.462.5812 Toll Free 410.792.2333 Baltimore 301.953.3131 Washington SERVING THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY FOR OVER 70 YEARS

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 21

FROM THE SEA

FOOD SMARTS

way you look at it.

cont. from page 16 country of origin of the meat. Fresh HPP Venezuelan makes a delicious, sweet crabcake with no aftertaste whatsoever. One of the trade-offs is that because the crabs are generally smaller than their southeast Asian counterparts (portunus pelagicus), Venezuelan meat has a slightly higher shell content.

Dramatically less cost When HPP first came on the market in late October, jumbo was selling for almost half the price of the comparable Indonesian product.

Pasteurized Indonesian jumbo was selling on the street in the upper $20’s, while fresh HPP Venezuelan jumbo dipped below $15 for three weeks in November. Some of our customers were saving thousands of dollars each week. In December, the market moved higher but never came close to the pasteurized market. The average sell price this spring will get below $20 but should remain above $15 level — an extreme value any

and environmental health capacity assistance.

Challenges…

cont. from page 6

Trying to operate a business in Venezuela has many many challenges, not the least of which is transportation. Things we take for granted here in this country, such as electricity and fuel (gas), are rationed in Venezuela.

Is it possible the entire country implodes? Yes, for sure, as political and diplomatic conditions continue to shift. But everyone involved in this crabmeat process has lots of incentive to keep it going. Fresh crabmeat is one of the few sources of U.S. dollars so desperately needed in Venezuela.

It is a shame, but that is the world we live in today.

health department can force a business to shut down because of a danger to public health. These are considered to be imminent health hazards: lack of hot water, lack of refrigeration, lack of electricity that results in loss of temperature control, pest infestation, and sewage back-up.

These situations must be corrected immediately or the operation is shut down. The health department must then reinspect the operation and give approval before it can reopen.

TIM SUGHRUE is executive vice president and founding member of Congressional Seafood Company. He holds a BS from North Carolina State University in Wildlife Biology and Fishery Science. He is a former research biologist for the Maryland DNR, has worked as a full-time commercial waterman, and has sold almost a billion dollars worth of seafood in his career.

What about the CDC? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) plays a support role. The CDC heads up federal efforts to gather data on food-borne illnesses, investigate food-borne illnesses and outbreaks, and monitor the effectiveness of prevention and control efforts in reducing food-borne illnesses.

The CDC supports state and local health departments by stepping in when there is an outbreak, providing epidemiology, laboratory,

The bottom line Federal government agencies are crucial to food inspection and food safety. But, local restaurants and food providers will be more familiar with state or local regulatory agencies as they are the ones with the power to shut you down if you don’t play by the rules. Be sure to keep staff trained and certifications up-to-date.

If you do, the inspections will be more of a business consulting session to confirm you are managing your business properly versus a nuisance or a nightmare.

JULIET BODINETZ is the executive director of Bilingual Hospitality Training Solutions, with over 30 years of industry and training experience. She and her team of instructors specialize in food safety, alcohol training, ServSafe training in English or Spanish, and writing HACCP Plans in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. metro areas. www.bilingualhospitality.com, juliet@ bilingualhospitality.com or 443-838-7561.

For Latest Food Safety Tips: Become a Fan on Facebook or Twitter: @BHTS

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ADVERTISER SPOTLIGHT | WSF Food Brokerage

WSF Brokerage at 30 — and Going Strong!

In 1989, Bill Fischbein created a full-service brokerage specializing in food service and retail product lines.

He called it WSF Food Brokerage, using the initials in his name, William Stuart Fischbein. Thirty years later, he’s still in business and plans to stay so, he says, “for another 30 years or more!”

When asked how his business started, Fischbein laughs. “Just by mistake! We are one of the few that didn’t inherit a food brokerage. We started it from the ground up with just one company, Brooklyn Bagel, that we have had for the 30 years we have been in business. As the bigger brokerages were going national, it’s helped us to stay with those who want regional brokers. We keep ours to 20 to 30 lines where the bigger ones may have 50 salespeople and 200 lines.”

Before starting his company, the Manhattan native had worked for the much larger Sysco Food Service.

He “downsized” largely because of his three children. “I had three young kids and didn’t want to travel, so staying regional was my focus,” he says. WSF now provides service for more than 40 distributors and 20 manufacturers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, in Maryland, Delaware, Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, and parts of Pennsylvania.

“Bakery and deli items have been one of our key focuses,” Fischbein says. “We try to give the distributors lines that not everybody else is carrying — and without flooding the market as some of the national manufacturers and brokers do.”

“I enjoy dealing with the foodservicemonthly

Singer Equipment Co.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Over 100 Years of Service! customers and the manufacturers,” he continues. Among his major food accounts are Royal Farms, Glory Days, Silver Diner, and the University of Maryland. Major food distributors range from Food Pro, Honor Foods, and Keany Produce to Saval, Belair, and Sysco.

“I have every intention of staying one of the few independents left in the market,” Bill Fischbein says.

Along with his three co-workers, he also intends to keep WSF Food Brokerage small. “As we like to put it, we are small, but with a personal touch.”

WSF Food Brokerage 809 Barkwood Court, Suite H Linthicum, MD 21090 Phone: 443-457-6529; Cell: 410-977-3915; Fax: 443-457-6801 E-mail: wsffood@yahoo.com

Come see us at the Spring Trade Expo on March 3rd & 4th at the OC Convention Ctr to learn about the newest products and trends.

Headquarters & Distribution Ctr 150 S Twin Valley Rd, Elverson, PA 800-422-8126 www.singerequipment.com

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Bellmawr Store 180 Heller Place Bellmawr, NJ 800-443-2212 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | 23

LOCAL COOKS | Alexandra Greeley

Tracy O’Grady at the Helm of 1789 If you like to follow a chef’s career, perhaps you already know about super chef Tracy O’Grady, who supervises the kitchen and structures the menus at D.C.’s elegant 1789 Restaurant. That clearly shows O’Grady is no culinary novice. Indeed, she has made her mark for several decades on the local restaurant scene.

Restaurant patrons may remember back in the day about the nowclosed Willow restaurant in Arlington, a very popular and casual eatery that featured French and Italian dishes with fresh American ingredients — and an American spin. O’Grady, the menu’s creator and the restaurant’s co-owner, earned her reputation because of her innovative cooking. She tackled tricky seafood combos and pork and beef entrées with a cool hand and much imagination. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but it was all extraordinary.

Learning by doing When O’Grady moved to D.C. back in the 1980s, she had been trained as a pastry chef. She did not attend any culinary institute but got her kitchen creds by working on site. “I got started at Le Pavilion in 1989,” she said. “And I worked for Yannick Cam, Bob Kinkead, and Roberto Donna,” some of D.C.’s most famous chefs.

She certainly got on-the-job training and suggested that might be a coming trend. “Most kids went to school back then,” she said, “and now they are not going to culinary school because it is so expensive.

Now that we lost L’Academie de Cuisine, that has been a real blow.”

24 | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

Smoked Brisket and Chorizo Chili Chef O’Grady is sharing a recipe she remembers as a favorite of Michael Birchenall, Washington food industry advocate and founder and editor of Foodservice Monthly. The D.C. food world certainly came to know Michael well and mourned his passing in 2017. So what better way to remember him than with this wintery recipe! Note: Garnish with corn bread, toasted pepita seeds, corn nuts, and chipotle lime sour cream.

Deb Lindsey

Serves 8 to 10

1789’s Executive Chef Tracy O’Grady

• 4 tablespoons canola oil

From pizza to now…

• 1 cup diced red peppers

After Willow closed, O’Grady and her husband took over a pizzeria at Watergate called Campono. After working there for several years, O’Grady was offered the executive chef’s position at 1789 — and her life changed dramatically.

“This is a big job,” she said. “1789 Restaurant has seven rooms, as well as The Tombs. It is a big job, but I absolutely love it.” The first year was very busy, she added, as she had to set up the menu according to her style. “But now everything is falling into place.”

Changing the focus Chef O’Grady noted that the menu at 1789 is now radically different.

For example, after Thanksgiving, she offered Nantucket bay scallops and lobster chowder. “People just went crazy for them,” she said. She also offers more soups, such as the artichoke-and-goat cheese or the

• 1 cup diced Spanish onion • 2 tablespoons minced jalapeños • 1 tablespoon minced garlic • 4 ounces tomato paste • 1 tablespoon ground cumin • 1 tablespoon smoked paprika • ½ tablespoon ground black pepper • 1 small cinnamon stick • Two 32-ounce cans fire-roasted crushed tomatoes • 1 tablespoon chipotle puree

cauliflower-and-goat cheese bisques.

“I love making soups,” she said.

She has found that the most popular dishes are the seafood appetizers, adding that basically, 1789 has always offered meat-centric entrées. “We do the traditional threecourse meals,” she said. “That’s what clients are looking for.”

Though many local restaurants are highly rated, O’Grady pointed out that there is only one 1789 Restaurant in D.C. “Everyone has a story about our restaurant,” she

The Newsmagazine Foodservice Professionals Rely On

• 2 pounds smoked brisket, diced and reserved • 2 pounds chorizo, cooked, sliced into coins • One 15-ounce can black beans, drained • One 15-ounce red kidney beans, drained • Kosher salt, to taste • Beef stock or water, as needed • Dark chocolate, coarsely chopped, to taste

Heat the oil in a nonstick stainless steel pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions, peppers, jalapeños, and garlic; sauté until tender. Whisk in the tomato paste and spices and reduce the heat to medium-low; cook slowly for about 10 minutes.

Stir in the canned tomatoes and chipotle puree and cook for about 15 minutes. Add in the brisket and chorizo and cook for another 30 minutes. Add in the beans and cook for another 30 minutes or until all the flavors have melded together. Season with salt and the dark chocolate. If the chili becomes too thick, thin it with some beef stock or water. said. “They have worked on the Hill or went to Georgetown University.

It has been around for so long that it has touched so many different people.”

ALEXANDRA GREELEY has more than 25 years of experience as an author, editor, reporter, food critic, staff writer, and freelance writer and editor, both in the United States and Asia. She is author or co-author of several cookbooks, including The Everything Guide to Being Vegetarian, Asian Soups, Stews, & Curries, Nong’s Thai Kitchen, and Homestyle Vietnamese Cooking. foodservicemonthly

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