LIFESTYLES | THE DISH
BEATING BOBBY FLAY
FRO-YO, CUPCAKES AND DANISHES, OH MY!
Victor Albisu, the man behind Taco Bamba and Del Campo, took down celebrity chef Bobby Flay to prove who the real “grill master” is.
After opening Washington’s first frozen yogurt shop and helping to launch the cupcake phenomenon, Aaron Gordon is trying his hand at Danish with Bakers & Baristas..
B Y L A U R A WA I N M A N
B Y L A U R A WA I N M A N
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e aren’t quite sure when it happened, but cooking seems to have become a sport, in the sense that chefs are pitted against each other more often than not these days. Whether they are battling it out to secure coveted fivestar ratings from notoriously picky reviewers or competing side-by-side as the entertainment at a charity dinner, Albisu’s winning dish, steak and eggs benedict, is on Del Campo’s brunch menu culinary competitions are hot right now. (Photo by Justin Rude) Famed chef Bobby Flay has capitalized on this trend with his Food Network Show,“Beat Bobby Flay,” which contestants a chance to take him down in his own arena. When local chef Victor Albisu got his chance to take on Flay, he was thrilled and terrified all at once. Victor Albisu (Photo “It was one of those things where you apply for by Greg Powers) the opportunity, go through the whole process and you want it really badly,” Albisu says. “When you get it, you are excited but then you realize ‘oh my God,’ now I have to actually go and do this thing.” Regardless, Albisu says he walked away from the show with nothing but positive feelings for the experience, although it probably didn’t hurt that he emerged victorious. In the first round of the dual-round competition, two local chefs compete to create the best dish using a secret ingredient. Albisu and Cleveland’s Eddie Tancredi were tasked with pizza dough. While Albisu went pretty spot-on with an Argentinian-style onion pizza called fuggazetta (on Del Campo’s menu), Tancredi was more inventive with a shrimp spring roll. Despite the judges’ feeling that both contestants undercooked their dough, Albisu’s dish was chosen both for its potential and how the flavors worked together. Pushing past to the second round, Albisu finally got to take on Flay, and he had a leg up as he was making his signature dish, steak and eggs. Del Campo serves a significant number of steak dishes and grilled meats, so Albisu went with a version of his steak and eggs benedict that is served at brunch. Alongside Flay’s grilled New York strip steak with scrambled eggs and goat cheese, Albisu’s dish was once again decreed the most flavorful and he was crowned the winner. “As a chef and food aficionado from an early age, I came up watching people like Bobby Flay and admiring them for what they did,” Albisu says.“It wsas an honor to cook with him and even more of an honor to get to cook against him.The outcome was positive and I got to compete against someone I really respect.”
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t is a bold move to open a coffee and pastry shop across the street from a Starbucks, but that is the kind of guy Aaron Gordon is: confident, but not cocky; bold but not aggressive. “It is great we are across the street from Starbucks, because now we can go toe-to-toe and see how a local, independent coffee shop really does,” Gordon says. “Do I expect to do as much business as them? No. Could we even handle that volume? Probably not. But if we get the 10 to 15 percent of customers who are coffee connoisseurs, looking for something a little better and who know the difference, that is what I am looking for.” Aaron Gordon (Photo by Joseph Allen) But as excited as he is to be opening an independent coffee shop and partnering with Compass Coffee, which he says is the “best of the best” in local coffee, what he’s really wide-eyed and bushy-tailed about is introducing Washington to a proper danish. “This town has two kinds of bakeries: French and Americano,” Gordon says. “You can find any number of good cupcakes, brownies and pies but you aren’t seeing truly good European pastries.” After finding the right chef, Lindsay Meehan, and engaging the consulting services of Blue Duck Tavern’s Naomin Gallego, the two woman have been testing and perfecting the danish-making process for six months. We were shocked to learn that start to finish it takes 24 hours to make a danish, which can use up to 30 layers of dough. Bakers & Baristas, which opened Jan. 21, has a daily rotating menu of savory danish (veggie and herb cream cheese, cheese pretzel), sweet danish (apple, chocolate hazelnut braid, vanilla apricot) light European-style sandwiches, sweet brioche (butterküchen, plum streusel) and desserts (chcolate caramel tart, Sacher torte). Visit Washingtonlife.com to see more with Aaron Gordon and an inside look at the danish-making process
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