Happenings at Hank's
America’s Best Oyster Bars!! Here, F&W names our favorite oyster bars in the country
—F&W staff with additional reporting by Eric Steinman
Hank’s Oyster Bar; Washington, DC
Beach Fare and Cocktails at the James Beard House
Escape the winter blues on March 8th with a beach-inspired menu from chef Jamie Leeds of Hank’s Oyster Bar. To set the vacation-evoking mood, the chef’s acclaimed seafood fare will be paired exclusively with food-friendly cocktails from mixologist Gina Chersevani. SEE MENU AND DETAILS HERE.
The New Food Capital: 15 D.C. Restaurants Serving Up Southern Fare
Southern Living, December 29, 2012 | By Francine Maroukian
Although Washington, D.C., has long played host to the world, it’s never been known as much of a food town—relegated to “big city” offerings such as let’s-make-a-deal steak houses and some international dining. Today, however, a new generation of culturally conscious chefs and restaurateurs is determined to imprint the city with a different culinary identity: its own.
Diners now crave local authenticity, and chefs, taking note, have discovered that D.C. is, make no mistake, a Southern city. It’s smack-dab in a widespread agricultural area and steeped in cast-iron cookery, and it enjoys the bounty of a long growing season through the homesteading arts of curing and preserving. Like its coastal counterparts New Orleans and Charleston, the D.C. area benefits from proximity to a plentiful estuary: the Chesapeake Bay, which produces about 500 million pounds of seafood per year.
Although you can track this community-minded chef movement in the White House Kitchen Garden program and the State Department’s initiative to promote regional American food, it’s more fun to experience D.C.’s sense-of-place cooking firsthand. Meet some of the forces behind Washington’s evolving take on Southern fare.
Hank’s Oyster Bar Chef Jamie Leeds’ classic coastal style includes seasonal staples such as Chesapeake Bay rockfish, Maryland’s official state fish. But the star is Jamie’s signature oyster, the meaty and mild Hayden’s Reef, developed in collaboration with Dragon Creek Aqua Farm. The don’t-miss side: Old Bay fries, sprinkled with Maryland’s distinctive seasoning. READ FULL ARTICLE
