Had success cooking loved D.C. restaurant dishes at home?

[Russel Shank]

Just curious who has pulled off/duplicated/pirated their favrite D.C. restaurant menu items.

[Dennis S]

The curried squid dish from Nam Viet. It's generally the curried coconut milk dish prevalent across SE Asia, but it's SO much better than any other place - by a mile - it is a different dish. I finally figured out the secret ingredient - pumpkin or squash, pureed and added with the coconut milk.

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Nam Viet Restaurant
3419 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., washington, dc, DC 20008

[rebeccayael]

I recently made the Jose Andres/Jaleo apple and manchego salad, as well as Komi's salt-baked branzino. Both were absolute standouts, and both were ridiculously easy. Didn't use recipes (though I think the branzino recipe is in the WaPo database) - just went by taste. Fantastic!

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Komi
1509 17th St NW Ste 1, Washington, DC 20036

[anunez]

I wrote into the Washingtonian recipe sleuth and they tracked down 1789's farro and beet salad recipe for me. I have made it several times at home and its awesome. I don't shave the vegtables on top like they do at the resturant but its still really good. I love that feature - need to figure out the next request!

[monkeyrotica]

I've tried several of the recipes in the Hot Shoppes Cookbook with much success, particularly the Might Mo.

http://cheddarbay.com/0000special/mig...

[Steve]

I'm not sure if you realize this, but Todd Kliman of Washingtonian has a regular feature (available online) in which folks request recipes for favorite restaurants, and he tries to get the chef to allow publication. He has done this with Michel Richards' faux gras and, I believe, his eggplant gazpacho (which is amazing). Many others too.

[reiflame]

I definitely used this to make Corduroy's Braised Pork Belly. He posts a "home cook" version and a "restaurant" version. The differences were so minimal that making the restaraunt version was a snap and it came out great.

[mjhals]

I didn't pirate this (I believe the recipe is available in one of his cookbooks, and they also hand out a complimentary copy at the buffet at the National Gallery), but I semi-successfully recreated Michel Richard's "faux gras". Didn't make the gelee that goes on top and my texture wasn't as smooth, but the flavor was really good. Makes me want to go back to Central to re-experience the original. Probably one of my top ten favorite restaurant dishes.

[hill food]

if you google "Michel Richard's "faux gras" you'll find a very similar recipe that just reading it sounds closer to what he seves at Central. I need to try it. I think he left out a few steps and/or ingredients in his posted "official" recipe..