- 22 hours ago
James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Rafidi joins Condé Nast Traveler to explore his favorite food spots in Washington, D.C. From Michelin-starred fine dining at The Dabney to authentic Middle Eastern manoushe at Z&Z Bakery and handmade breakfast tacos at La Tejana, discover the dishes and flavors that define Washington, D.C.’s vibrant food scene.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Thank you for coming in.
00:01Oh, I'm working today?
00:03Yeah, man.
00:03Oh, Habibi, no.
00:05My day off.
00:11I'm Michael Ruffiti, and today I'm going to take you to some of my favorite restaurants in Washington, D.C.
00:15This is where the chefs see.
00:27We're on the rooftop at the Dabney, the beautiful garden.
00:30They got a bunch of shiso and mint and all the goodies up here.
00:33Let's go check it out.
00:35The Dabney is one of the best restaurants in D.C.
00:39I had the opportunity to actually cook here in 2019 before our restaurant, Albi, opened.
00:43So it's like a very near and dear restaurant to me.
00:47We've got a perfect little combo of asparagus and crab happening right now.
00:51We'll do some classics, catfish, sweet potato roll.
00:54You know, we'll get into some lamb belly.
00:56Got a few really fun things for a night.
00:58The veggies are really on point.
01:00Peas are insane.
01:02Asparagus is crazy good.
01:03Turnips are wildly delicious.
01:05So, yeah, a lot of really tasty stuff.
01:07You're going to love it.
01:08Awesome.
01:08I was living in San Francisco and trying to plot where I was going to open Albi,
01:12and I came to eat here in 2015, met Chef Jeremiah.
01:15And it was one of these moments that it was like an aha,
01:18like I should definitely move back to D.C. to open Albi
01:21with like all the great restaurants that are opening such as Dabney.
01:44All right, Chef.
01:45So first one is going to be first of the season, fava beans.
01:50We do them peel and eat style.
01:51We pull them out of the shells, charm over the embers.
01:54And the idea is that you're just going to grab them, dip them in a little bit of herb
01:57salt.
01:57This is also a mayo made from the fava bean shoots.
02:01Maybe squeeze a little lemon on them, but enjoy them just like you would at Amame.
02:04It's pretty good dirty.
02:06Beautiful.
02:06Obviously, got to hit you with some sweet potato rolls.
02:09Oh, wow.
02:09Fried blue catfish in the Chesapeake.
02:11You know the score on those.
02:12And this one is a lot of fun.
02:14Maryland blue crab tostada dressed with a Virginia peanut salsa matcha.
02:18Beautiful.
02:19That's awesome.
02:20Enjoy.
02:20So this is a iconic Dabney classic.
02:24It is a sweet potato roll, fried catfish, reserve ramp, B&B pickles.
02:29Something that's been on the menu since I've been coming here.
02:31It is one of my favorite snacks.
02:33Can't wait to dig into this guy.
02:37Looks like it could be a one biter, but I'm going to go in two.
02:44Super flavorful.
02:45So much going on there.
02:47Peanut, spice.
02:48It's so good.
02:49Being in the D.C. area, May to July essentially, maybe even a little later.
02:54Maryland crab season is just like what you need to try when you come here.
02:57From blue crab to soft-shell crab to just eating crabs and drinking beer by the shore.
03:02I think really it's like it's Maryland crab season.
03:12All right.
03:14Chef.
03:14Good to see you again.
03:15Good to see you, brother.
03:16So we've got the Maryland blue crab right there.
03:19Just some jumbo lump.
03:20Maryland blue crab with a little bit of cream.
03:22Some garlic chives from the garden.
03:23Lemon balm.
03:24Charred asparagus on top.
03:26Simple, but really, really delicious.
03:28Those two flavors work together great.
03:30Smells awesome.
03:31All right, cool.
03:32Let me give it a try here.
03:33Yeah, get in there.
03:34What's the sauce?
03:35It's a crab cream.
03:35So it's literally just some beautiful cream and the crabs just cooked down in it.
03:39A little bit of garlic chive from the garden.
03:41It's a little bit of lemon.
03:42Super, super simple.
03:43But the sweetness of the crab and the charred like vegetal notes in the asparagus, I think
03:48just perfect.
03:49So good together.
03:50And the shisos from the garden on the rooftop?
03:52Yep.
03:52Yeah, all grown on the rooftop.
03:54There's like some sweet, like little pickley bites in there too, huh?
03:56Yeah, so we hide a little bit of preserved lemon puree underneath.
04:00A little bit of yogurt underneath as well.
04:02We want most of them to be the same great flavors, but every once in a while you get a
04:05different little pot.
04:06Yeah, tons of layers.
04:07And then this one's going to be a grilled lamb belly.
04:09You know, we take the flaps off of all the sides of the saddles, pop them together,
04:13braise them, press them, and then put it over the embers.
04:16It's actually like a really deep, rich strawberry barbecue sauce that's on there.
04:20Some lightly pickled cucumber, a little bit of pickle green garlic, some sumac.
04:25It's big in foraging, especially in the summertime.
04:28It's always been something that we grew up using and stuff.
04:30Obviously like you use sumac all the time.
04:32On everything.
04:32Yeah, it's a winter.
04:33We had all these great, cool traditions up in the Chesapeake and around the bay.
04:37They weren't being highlighted.
04:38It wasn't really a focus.
04:39So I kept on thinking, well, if I'm going to open my own place one day, I want to do
04:43it
04:43in a place where we can do something new.
04:45You know, at the time, I think that D.C. had a fairly stale restaurant scene.
04:49You know, it was in a kind of a transitional period.
04:52And I remember saying I wanted to go open in D.C.
04:54And people are like, oh, you're crazy.
04:55You should go to New York or L.A. or Chicago or whatever.
04:58But it's my home.
04:59For me, it was just an opportunity to go, you know, hang my shingle, do something,
05:03try to see if I could make the people happy, some tasty food.
05:06It worked out pretty well, I guess.
05:07Yeah, I think it worked out all right.
05:08Yeah.
05:15We're right outside of D.C.
05:16We're going to check out a Middle Eastern bakery focusing on Meneish.
05:19This bakery never would have existed when I was a kid.
05:21So let's go check it out.
05:23Oh, baby, how are you?
05:26Good.
05:26Good to see you.
05:27Thank you for having me.
05:28Thank you for coming in.
05:29Oh, I'm working today?
05:31Oh, baby, no.
05:34My day off.
05:36He's here just to eat.
05:38What would you like?
05:39Let's do one classic.
05:40One classic.
05:41Do you have the spinach pie today?
05:43Yeah, we have a special of the month and this is the last week.
05:47All right, let's do that.
05:48And then how about the kebab?
05:50How's that one today?
05:50Kebab is okay.
05:52Who's the employee of the month this month?
05:53This month?
05:54Me, I guess.
05:55Oh, you're there?
05:56Okay.
05:56All right.
05:57We're at Z&Z Bakery in Rockville, Maryland, right outside of D.C.
06:01It is a Middle Eastern Meneish Bakery owned by a great family.
06:06Meneish is typically a flatbread with za'atar and lots of olive oil and it's usually a breakfast.
06:10When I was growing up, Meneish wasn't a thing in restaurants.
06:13It was something I would just eat as a kid with my family.
06:15Now it's kind of like all over the DMV and it's something that's really special.
06:32How are you?
06:33Good, good.
06:33What do we got here?
06:35Oh, here we go.
06:36Oh, baby.
06:37Look at this.
06:38This looks incredible.
06:40The kebab cherry.
06:41Oh, wow.
06:42What is it?
06:42What do we got?
06:43Oh, we got one more coming.
06:44I'll start giving you a walking tour.
06:46So, you know the classic za'atar malusheh.
06:48That's our za'atar from Janine, Palestine.
06:50Rich olive oil.
06:52We used to eat this for breakfast every day.
06:53Yeah, it's a spinach.
06:55Special of the month.
06:56Smells so good.
06:57Spinach pie is also based off my grandma's recipe.
06:59Fatayr sabandekh.
07:00They make you know the little pockets with the red onions, garlic, spinach.
07:04We have a whipped feta finished with pomegranate molasses and sumac.
07:08And then this one, kebab karras, is really cool.
07:10It's based off a famous Syrian dish.
07:12So that's got the baharat, spiced lamb, meatballs, Aleppo, cherries.
07:17Cherries from Michigan.
07:18Very good.
07:18Red onions.
07:19And then we finished with the cherry glaze.
07:21And of course, I had to hit you with all the dips.
07:23We got baba spicy shatta, the house-made lebneh, and of course, the garlicky tuna.
07:28Oh, beautiful.
07:29Thank you so much.
07:30All right.
07:30Well, I think I should start with the classic because why not?
07:34Yeah.
07:34All right.
07:37Mmm.
07:39That's so good.
07:40Oh, yeah.
07:41I think it's so simple.
07:42Where's the zaatar from?
07:43That's from Janine, Palestine.
07:44They say the most savory zaatar goes there wild in the mountains for all the time.
07:49We had to get the best stuff.
07:50A little secret weapon here, a little lebneh on the side.
07:53Oh, yeah.
07:54That's what I call the Arab PB&J right there.
07:57Oh, there it is.
07:58Yeah.
08:00It's so good.
08:02It reminds me of my childhood.
08:03Oh, yeah.
08:04Yeah.
08:05My mom had pockets and my grandma would come over to help and we'd wake up on the weekends
08:08and my grandma baking like hundreds of these.
08:10Mm-hmm.
08:11We had a ping pong table in the basement.
08:12You just fill them up.
08:14Yeah.
08:14With zaatar mana'ish.
08:15And that's like, it was such a core memory for us.
08:17Yes.
08:17My sithi used to pack this for my lunch.
08:20It was cool.
08:20It was ice cold.
08:21Yeah.
08:22But it was great.
08:22I mean, all the kids used to make fun of me because of the-
08:25The oily brown paper bags.
08:26What is this?
08:26What is this thing you're eating?
08:27They have their ham sandwich at my van-ish.
08:30I know.
08:30And now look at us.
08:31Yeah.
08:31Now look at us.
08:33That's like everything we do is just taking all these old recipes and just putting them into like this format.
08:38Yeah.
08:38My grandpa had a fried chicken restaurant here for like 30 years.
08:41Yeah, it used to come.
08:42Yeah.
08:42They would always like fantasize that, oh, one day it would be so cool to sell our food and sell
08:47bread here.
08:47But at the time they're like, this is the only thing that we'll sell is like American food.
08:51So it's super special for us to be like 40 years later, kind of excelling doing this food that they
08:57never thought would be possible.
08:59And it's really like my grandma, this is our favorite restaurant, which for me, it's like the ultimate compliment.
09:03Like whenever she's hungry, she'll come here for breakfast.
09:05All right.
09:05Spinach pie.
09:06I've never tried this one.
09:07I mean, this one's just classic combo, you know.
09:09Chef, thank you again so much for coming.
09:10I'll let you eat now.
09:11I know you got a lot of eating to do.
09:12Thank you so much.
09:13Enjoy your meal.
09:15We'll see you soon.
09:16Thank you, brother.
09:16Enjoy your day.
09:22So we're at La Tejana Tacos in Mount Pleasant, my favorite taco spot in all of DC.
09:27This is the most special spot for me and my fiance.
09:30We live right down the street every Saturday or Sunday.
09:33We walk up here with our dog Kefta and like just get a bunch of tacos, walk to the park,
09:38eat them handheld.
09:39They're just perfect little snacks.
09:41Everything's made fresh every day.
09:43Tortillas are handmade.
09:44They're like, they're just perfect.
09:45Perfect little bite.
09:46Hey, chef.
09:47How's it going?
09:48What would you like?
09:49Let's do three tacos.
09:50Let's go with the Super Migas.
09:52Super Migas.
09:53And let's do an Uncle P as well.
09:55And then do you have my favorite dirty horchata today?
09:57I sure do.
09:58All right, cool.
10:04We started during COVID days, so it was really just a pop-up.
10:07We started making tortillas out of our apartment, selling them on Instagram, and it just kind of took off.
10:12And flour tortillas are the key thing that we do on us from South Texas.
10:16So we're just trying to pay homage to, you know, the real deal breakfast tacos that she grew up with.
10:26Hey.
10:26All right, chef.
10:27We got a little dealer's choice for you.
10:28Amazing.
10:29Super Migas, Super Duper, and Uncle P, and that little dirty horchata.
10:32Awesome. Thank you so much.
10:33Got you, bro.
10:34All right, let's see which one this is here.
10:36Looks like we got some bacon in this one, some eggs, some potato.
10:41Let's do a little habanero sauce on this one.
10:48That's so good.
10:53So I grew up on the border.
10:55A border kid's called McAllen, Texas.
10:57It's part of the Rio Grande Valley.
10:59So when I moved here for Gus, I quickly realized that bagels and pastries were not going to cut it.
11:06And we opened La Tejana to just selfishly give me the food that I grew up eating.
11:12And now it turned into a place where we can represent the valley, which is the 956.
11:18And we're super happy to do it in the most authentic way possible.
11:21Beautiful.
11:22Average, we do about 6,000 to 7,000 tortillas a week.
11:26All handmade.
11:27Every single one.
11:28That's incredible.
11:29That's what you're saying.
11:29The day we sell a store-bought tortilla will be the day we close our doors forever.
11:33All right.
11:34That's right.
11:35Yeah.
11:44All right, that's a wrap.
11:46These are my favorite restaurants in Washington, D.C.
11:48We had Minouche, we had breakfast tacos, we had fine dining, mid-Atlantic cooking by Jeremiah at the Dabney.
11:53And yeah, that's it.
11:54Hope to see you in D.C.
11:58We'll see you in the next one.
11:58A big expansion of food, where I sit in the next one.
11:58data, and we have a big presence.
11:59You can see that what we've seen in the next one.
12:01We can see you in the next one.
12:01Again, we'll see you in the next two days.
12:01What do we see the rest of the rest of the family?
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