Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Fourth Annual Cochon 555 Comes to DC

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Pork at Cochon
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

The pork craze on the food scene may have quieted down a little bit, but that probably doesn’t (and shouldn’t) change anyone’s feelings about bacon, pork rinds, pork loin or any other delicious part of the hog. So to get quell your pork cravings, Cochon 555 is making its fourth annual stop in DC on April 22nd at The Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel.

This year’s competing chef lineup includes last year’s DC “prince of porc,” Scott Drewno from The Source by Wolfgang Puck, returning competitor Ed Witt from 701 Restaurant, as well as new competitors Mike Isabella from Graffiato, Wes Morton from Art and Soul, and Nicholas Stefanelli from Bibiana. The way it works is all five chefs prepare dishes using parts of heritage breed pigs from snout to tail, and you, dear attendee, get to feast on all of it. When all is said and done, one of our DC chefs will go on to compete against other chefs from around the country at the Grand Cochon event at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June.

Additionally, you’ll get to sample wines from five family wineries, as well as beers from Anchor Brewing and other spirits.   And just in case the dishes from the competition weren’t enough for you, Bourbon Steak’s Adam Sobel will be preparing a whole BBQ hog–you know, just in case you feel peckish. Those of you who enjoy wielding knives and playing Iron Chef in your kitchen when no one’s looking can check out a butchering demo from Wagshal Market’s Pamela Ginsberg.

Tickets can be purchased online for $125 per person or $200 for VIP tickets with early admission at 4 PM and access to “welcome cocktails” and oysters from Rappahannock River Oysters, LLC. The 2012 Cochon 555 in DC starts at 5 PM on Sunday, April 22nd at The Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel.

The Daily Feed

Recapping COCHON 555

Photo courtesy of
‘Pork at Cochon’
courtesy of ‘bonappetitfoodie’

Sunday afternoon the smell of roasting pork bits was wafting through the Newseum as five chefs competed to win at Cochon 555. After rounds of pulled pork, pork rinds, pork infused cocktails, pork belly, pork shoulder, and every other pork concoction and confection you can think of, The Source’s executive chef, Scott Drewno, was crowned the prince of pork. Drewno will go on to compete at Grand Cochon in Aspen this June.

Competing chefs also included Tarver King of Ashby Inn and Restaurant, Jamie Leeds of Hank’s Oyster Bar, Adam Sobel of Bourbon Steak and Bryan Voltaggio of Volt. Additionally, Jason Belleau of Whole Foods Market and Pamela Ginsberg of Wagshal’s Market went head to head in a butchering competition that involved a lot of sawing and slinging of every single piece of the pig.

Five wineries from around the country were represented at Cochon, however, there were plenty of pork-inspired cocktails, including a martini with olives stuffed with pickled pig knuckle from Sobel, bourbon cider with pork pearls from Drewno and a smoked ham cream soda from Voltaggio.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

Food Tweet of the Week: Bourbon Steak

Photo courtesy of
‘Venison, Bourbon Steak’
courtesy of ‘bonappetitfoodie’

Let me just start this by saying that if you haven’t tried Bourbon Steak’s fries yet, please do…but that’s a totally different story.

The restaurant, located in Georgetown’s Four Seasons, hasn’t stopped tweeting since it first logged on back in December 2009. @BourbonSteakDC currently has more than 2,100 followers and tweets about five times a day. The polite restaurant will always thank you on Twitter for coming in to dine, and recently it got be excited about an event I had somehow forgotten about. 

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