Where to eat in Washington DC: Chef Eric Bruner-Yang

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    This was published 7 years ago

    Where to eat in Washington DC: Chef Eric Bruner-Yang

    By Belinda Jackson
    Eric Bruner-Yang, Washington DC, shares his food favourites.

    Eric Bruner-Yang, Washington DC, shares his food favourites.

    Chef and entrepreneur Erik Bruner-Yang brings his Taiwanese-Belgian heritage to the table at his Asian food and ferments grocery store Honeycomb Grocer, his cafe, restaurant and retail experience Maketto, and you can feel the influences at the Taiwanese ramen and dumpling restaurant he founded, Toki Underground. Named a Rising Star in the 2014 James Beard Foundation Award, he also teamed up with Waldorf Astoria Beijing master chef Benoit Chargy​ to win of the 2016 Taste of Waldorf Astoria competition with their Jing Roll of wagyu beef with hoisin sauce, salted duck eggs and purple sweet potato. His newest ventures are Brothers & Sisters and Spoken English inside the new Line Hotel in Adams Morgan, opening shortly. See maketto1351.com, tasteofwaldorfastoria.com.

    FAVOURITE TABLE

    The Source is a Wolfgang Puck Chinese restaurant inside the Newseum and I take my mother there. There's not a lot of elegant, higher-end Chinese restaurants in the US yet. We get the Peking duck and a plate that has one dumpling of every style – sui mai, steamed bun, crystal shrimp – and a tableside hotpot. You can pick the broth, and add wagyu beef, shrimp, beautiful seafood and handmade noodles. My favourite restaurant on the east coast is Basta Pasta. It's all owned and operated by Japanese people. It's pretty traditional Italian, with a Japanese nuances. We're regulars. See wolfgangpuck.com, bastapastanyc.com

    Maketto fare, Washington DC.

    Maketto fare, Washington DC.

    LOCAL FOOD DISCOVERY

    I think the new food that will become popular in the US is Filipino food. We have a large Filipino population all over the US, with second and third-generation Filipino opening cool restaurants. Bad Saint is the first modern Filipino food restaurant. It's fantastic. They do really nice freshwater shrimp fritters with shredded sweet potato shredded sweet potatoes, onions and carrots called ukoy. Filipino food is sweet-sour, with a touch of spice. It's pretty good. See badsaintdc.com

    BEST-KEPT FOOD SECRET

    Alex Levin is an amazing pastry chef who worked at Osteria Morini, Chef Michael White's Northern Italian restaurant originally from New York City. He is the best pastry chef. We like to begin to a light brunch with a ton of sweets at the end. I love his chocolate souffle cake – I've actually never ordered a dessert there. It just comes. I love a good chocolate souffle cake. But who doesn't? See osteriamorini.com

    MUST-TRY DISH

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    Sushi taro is a sushi restaurant: very traditional, very expensive. Their kaiseki (tasting menu) costs US$120. They import all their fish from Japan, so the best time to go is in the fall, during Japan's amazing fish season. There's a portion of the tasting where they bring out all the seafood. sushitaro.com

    FAVOURITE INDULGENCE

    There's a pretty cool pizza chain called & Pizza. They make hand-rolled dough and run it through the toaster. You stand in line and pick all the ingredients you want. It takes like five minutes, but it's your pizza. My favourite set one is the Farmer's Daughter, with spicy sausage with sunny-side up eggs, and I add pickled onions and more cheese and rocket greens. See andpizza.com

    WHERE TO GO ON A BIG NIGHT OUT

    It's tough because I have a two-year-old so we haven't had a big night out for a while! Zaytinya is a classic Greek restaurant, and its pita is unbelievable. It has a nice patio and is around a bunch of museums. Get the Greek wine, the hummus, eggplant dip and their amazing slow-roasted meats. Nearby is the Peruvian restaurant Del Campo, where everything is smoked first, then grilled. And the cocktails are good. See zaytinya.com, delcampodc.com

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