Pas de deux

The sous-chef is Austrian, so I'll give him all the credit* for my favorite entree in 2010, making this the 2nd in an occasional series, as Pipón guest blogger Julia Oliver likes to say. I'm speaking, of course, of the "Duet of Duck" ($27) at Foti's, in downtown Culpeper, Va., by Shenandoah National Park, an inspired pairing of vinegar and juniper marinated crispy skinned Long Island duck breast, served smoothly rare and uninterrupted, alongside a complexly spiced duck and cabbage sausage, atop a caramelized onion, potato and bacon sautee, down there soaking up all that duck jus but somehow staying crunchy, set off by a bright blueberry gastrique and local green bean medley.

I lead with Foti's because visitors to Washington, Va., do not all make it to nearby Culpeper, whilst I can't imagine anyone would miss breakfast at the Foster Harris House, a 4-course extravaganza that today included out-of-the-oven currant and chocolate scones; fresh fruit in yogurt and homemade granola; pastrami smoked salmon with tzatziki; custard scrambled eggs, garnished with an Hawaiian volcanic sea salt; a pleasantly daintily fried zucchini fritter; and a short stack of miniature pancakes with shaved chocolate above and maple butter syrup below.

*Foti's chef and owner, Foteos “Frank” Maragos, a Johnson and Wales grad and the former executive sous chef at the Inn at Little Washington, Laura Bush's old haunt, probably deserves some credit, too.

Corn dog tourism

A friend invited us over on Friday to meet a couple of CouchSurfing Argentines, speak some Spanish, and sample a remarkable batch of gnocchi, served in a cream sauce with a stripe of marinara. So to return the favor, we persuaded them to put off their trip to the Washington Monument and instead come to the Great Frederick Fair ("una mezcla de la Rural, el Italpark y los carritos de la costanera, pero con comida frita," as the Argentines put it) for some of this country's somewhat less delicate delicacies, including sausage and peppers, blooming onions and the inescapable corn dog. (No one tried the deep-fried Oreos, but it was nice to see them make an appearance.)


I felt guilty at first, diverting Andres and Floriana from the National Mall to the Frederick fairgrounds. But I felt much better when I saw the corn dog post (above) on these CouchSurfers' travel blog, Vuelta al Mundo:  

"Los corndogs son espectaculares. Como puede ser que en Argentina no los tengamos? Es una salchicha en un palito mojada en una pasta de maiz y frito. Que puede haber mejor?"