Damn Right I d Do It Again Brothers Hometown Throwdown

Granville Moore'southward chef Teddy Folkman has good reason to boast about his Belgian-themed H Street, Northeast restaurant. On a recent episode of the Food Network's Throwdown With Bobby Flay, his moules fromage bleu bested the Fe Chef'south coconut-poblano mussels. Check out our video interview—or the written transcript beneath—with Folkman to notice out how information technology all went down. (And don't forget to bank check out his video recipe of the mussels that he shell Flay with.)

So here we are with Teddy Folkman at Granville Moore's, who just vanquish Bobby Flay in the Bobby Flay Throwdown. So tell me what happened—did you know that they were going to come and film, or was it a existent surprise?

I'd say a trivial from column A, a little from column B. When the Food Network contacted us, of course we were honored. Nosotros were just like, Wow, this is amazing. So nosotros pretty much did whatever they said. And then equally time goes on, yous kind of think to yourself in the back of the head, considering you watch the evidence—it'due south a pilot for a new show, it kind of fits in a little bit. And so in the back of our minds we did have it that nosotros were possibly having a throwdown with Bobby Flay. Only for the almost part, we prepared and did exactly what they told united states of america to do, because heck, they're the Food Network. They're telling me what to exercise, I'll do information technology.

So what did they tell you to do?

They told us that they were filming a airplane pilot for American Eats called "Inside the Chugalug"—the belt beingness in DC—and the first special was going to exist on moules frites because it's kind of taken over DC. You got Belga, Brasserie Beck, Marvin—yous got a lot of great, neat Belgian restaurants around here. So it's kind of become the new area for the Belgian food scene. And and then they came in on March—I think information technology was the twenty-four hours before St. Paddy's Twenty-four hours, and so it was March 16, 17? I don't accept a agenda. They came in for dinner on Sunday night to scout the place. Turns out that we were too small-scale for their final scene and I was like, Besides small for your terminal scene? If it's a new pilot, how do you know what your final scene is? Then they simply told me to find another place to accept the last solar day. So nosotros went down to our neighborhood eatery—non neighborhood, but our sis restaurant, I guess you could say—good friends of ours over at the Argonaut Tavern, nifty restaurant down there. And they have a little more space, and they were gracious enough to host the third 24-hour interval. But before that, Monday morning, basically woke up, got to work, went to Profish—our seafood purveyor—and met upward with the Food Network there, and we started filming. My interactions with Glen and Greg, who are the owners over there—brothers, good guys, both good guys—and did a lot of filming there, did some interviews here, did some cooking demos, and and then they're supposed to film dinner service all dark. Dinner service started, and by 7 o'clock they were packed up and headed out and asked me where to become, where to swallow.

So dinner service ended at 7 o'clock and they were asking me, "Where do we go to consume?" I was like, I idea they were going to film the balance of dinner service, and then I was similar . . . another clue in that this isn't exactly what we idea information technology was. And then the next morning time I got in hither early, prepped with my sous chef, Steve Chapman, and headed over to the Argonaut with our stuff and nosotros started. You lot know, large party, cooking demonstration. Information technology was 11 o'clock in the forenoon, people were drinking Chimay white beer—they didn't realize information technology's x, xi percent alcohol. And then you know, everyone was lucid, I guess you could say. Good discussion for that. We started the cooking demonstration, basically started asking the states questions, basically describing all the food in the dish. We did our fromage bleu, which is our bleu-cheese moules. And then all of a sudden, out comes Bobby Flay in a sweater belong and a $lxx pair of jeans and a overnice iii-quarter jacket and I'g like, Damn! And it wasn't the—it was kind of in the back of your head that he'south gonna come and and so you run into him and that's . . . damn! It was definitely an honor to come across him. I mean, people requite him some slack for what he does—and he's kind of, y'all know, the whole celebrity scene and all that—but the man's proven himself. He's done amazing things. He owns some very successful restaurants. So being in his presence was just awesome.

So have you watched other Bobby Flay Throwdowns?

Yep—oh, yes. We definitely did our research. Not enquiry, merely I actually enjoy the show. My night off is Tuesday night, and it'south on at 9 o'clock. Then there I am every week watching it. In that location were some funny ones, a lot of funny ones, so hopefully this one is up in that location for an Emmy or something. That'southward all we're hoping for.

And so was your first reaction . . . were you worried? Were you lot confident?

I was confident because we're very confident in what nosotros exercise here. But still, its Bobby Flay, he's an Fe Chef. He's got twenty years' experience; I've only been cooking full-time for about seven years. He's definitely got years on me, and similar he said in the throwdown, he'south cooked moules frites thousands of times. I'm getting up there, though.

And so you made your bleu-cheese mussels.

Yeah.

And did he make the same thing or something unlike?

No, he made a kokosnoot-milk/roasted-poblano—shocker!—and butter mussels.

And did y'all get to try his mussels?

Yep, we did.

Okay, and what did you think? Is information technology something you want to add to your carte?

I thought the goop was excellent. But in choosing mussels, and in doing this, your main ingredient is your mussels. And I don't call up his item mussels stood up against the ones that we have hither. Just past size, texture, color, form of the shell, it'southward but hands downwardly, we become the all-time mussels. We sourced that out for three months before nosotros finally came to a conclusion who we wanted to employ for our mussels.

Then who gets to sense of taste them at the throwdown? Who got to taste them to make up one's mind who wins?

To determine who wins, it was two judges—a husband-and-wife team—Jason and Amy Storch. Jason runs DCfoodies.com, and Amy runs Amalah.com, a very funny Web site, if you take the gamble to check it out. They came downwards, and they were going to exist on a panel of judges. And then they were thinking, panel of judges, no problem—not even really prepared for what happened. I think more than anyone, those two were the well-nigh shocked that it was a Throwdown With Bobby Flay and that they were going to be on TV and that sort of affair. But they did very well. Amy was at the time— or is still—pregnant. And she has to judge mussels, so information technology definitely became comical. There'due south an extract that she has on her Spider web site nearly later it happened and her whole feel, and it'south just . . . you feel bad, but my gosh, information technology was just and so funny, the circumstances. So they got to judging and they were tasting and they were going back and forth nearly the flavors, comparing notes, contrasting. The Food Network gave them a couple guidelines on what to approximate everything on. I recollect it was taste, texture . . . and I'll watch it again and tell you the third affair later on.

So did she get to gustation them?

Yes, everyone got to gustation them, and they decided that it was plate A, which was our moules frites, and that we would win. So it was very exciting. They had no idea whose was whose. Fifty-fifty though people say yep, you know, they accept to know, they really didn't know. But when Bobby Flay comes to town and you meet roasted poblanos, there'south gonna be a niggling lite that says, Ooh, that'south probably Bobby Flay's dish.

Have you ever cooked on camera before?

No, but I do teach culinary school. Not teach culinary schoolhouse, but I volunteer at Brainfood. Brainfood is an organization that helps inner-city kids, teaching vocational schools—this one in item—culinary education. They have two locations. They're an awesome, awesome organization. And I also volunteer—pitiful, Lisa, I haven't been there in a while—at a preschool in Chevy Chase. And my mom'due south a teacher, and then it'southward kind of in my blood to exist able to explain and practice. And I retrieve one of the biggest responsibilities of a chef is being able to teach, which is why I love my team here because they're cracking students and at present they're educational activity me stuff, and so it's wonderful.

Groovy, and so is your recipe something that was passed down to you, or did you come upwards with it yourself?

No, I kind of came up with it myself. I was at a local pub correct near my house, and I was having this burger and it had bleu cheese, bacon, and I was simply similar, Wow. And this was when I was thinking of all the recipes and put that together. And I was also eating a salad that had a lemon vinaigrette on it and I'm like, This all works together actually well, let's attempt it. So we did, and at first it was really good. Merely information technology was too smoky, everything was overpowering. The bleu cheese was overpowering the mussels; the bacon was overpowering everything else. And so we finally decided to taste-test a bunch of different cheeses, and nosotros decided on Claw's bleu cheese, which is a creamery in Wisconsin. Their bleu cheese is pungent, existent bleu-cheesy, but it doesn't overwhelm. There'south some bleu cheese out there and y'all accept a bite, and you lot're just like, Ugggh. This is very clean on the palate, very creamy. So the salary—we actually couldn't find 1 that we really liked, so my bison farmer, Billy Sannon from New Frontier Bison, his neighbor is a hog farmer, and I was like, "Billy, can you lot guys make me some bacon?" We went dorsum and forth testing recipes, and finally nosotros came out with a great i. We use our own alkali, they fume information technology to our specifications, and nosotros get it delivered each calendar week.

And is that your near popular kind?

Currently, aye.

Since the throwdown?

Since the throwdown. Before the throwdown, it was pretty close between that one and our moules biere, which is a Chimay white beer, bacon over again—whoops!—that'due south fennel, leeks, and cream. I like that one, you lot know. Its summertime, people are looking for something bolder, so the bleu cheese mussels are more pop. And the pesto mussels, definitely.

Okay, so . . . where did y'all work earlier? Did you acquire the Belgian style of cooking from someone else?

I didn't learn the Belgian style, but what I learned was the love and respect for food and technique, and really, I had some bang-up, great mentors. Chef Ann Cashion and John Manolatos—he was the sous chef at the fourth dimension—now he'southward the executive chef in that location at Cashion's. Two wonderful, wonderful people who taught me a lot. Sam Adkins—he runs Jackie'southward right now—really instilled the passion of food in me. Then, going upwardly the line, every place I worked at, whether it was Clyde's or Evening Star Cafe, yous take something from each identify and y'all larn from it, and in that location was a lot of dandy people that I met. I was very fortunate. I mean, I've only been doing this seven years, but working with the people I've been able to piece of work with has really helped me develop my skills a lot faster. . . . Of grade, Joey wanted to practise this place, and my buddy Chris Rusko, who opened the place, was the original guy who came in here—this was kind of his brainchild as well—he got me here as well afterward the first month. So those people have meant the well-nigh to me.

And where exercise you go your mussels from?

We become them from Icy Tempest. It's a mussel farm on Prince Edward Island. They're rope-grown mussels, cultivated mussels, and that allows for the mussels to exist cleaner considering they're suspended in the water. That also allows for all the minerals and vitamins in the water—I guess at that place's vitamins in the water. They flow through the mussels to give it a cleaner gustatory modality and an ocean taste rather than fishy. And they're huge. They really harvest them at the right time. I know summer's a little harder for mussels because the shells are a little thinner, the mussels are a little smaller. It'due south just the flavour. But at least I know with this fishery when that season'south gonna be.

And do y'all accept any new kinds of mussels that you're thinking of putting on the menu?

Ooh—we got a lot of stuff up our sleeves, don't you worry. We wanted to do a "all-time of" considering we had and then many pop ones that people are similar, "I want the Dijon saucisson dorsum on the carte du jour!" Or, we have a lot of other ones. There'due south some nosotros're working on right now because it is summertime. Because the clients are hither, the customers, our guests, I want to be able to give them what they're commonly used to, and I think once in a while we'll start having mussel specials. I call back is the best way to practice it. We kind of gauge what we're going to put on the next menu.

So what would you recommend to whatsoever other chefs who are going to get upwardly against Bobby Flay?

Be humble, because he's actually a very wonderful guy. The exposure is amazing. It helps you go things like, I don't know, an interview with Washingtonian or something like that. Gosh, just keep your wits about y'all. It'due south merely . . . wow, that'southward tough, I never thought about that . . . I'm stumped once again. It's like the other day when someone asked me the deviation between bison and buffalo and I was like, Uhhh. I figured it out, though. I went on Wikipedia. Bison are from North America, and buffalo out westward or eastward. Geography'southward not my potent bespeak. No, I just say to become against Bobby Flay, be very particular about what you do. Do your best. Brand sure your technique is right. Make sure your ingredients are fresh. Make certain you lot give it your all. Because he's definitely going to requite his all, and y'all know, you lot don't want to be on the losing end of one of those battles.

And what'southward your favorite beer here?

My favorite beer hither is Chimay white. But I also alive in Alexandria, so I can't really drink information technology likewise oft hither because it is high-octane. Then my favorite beer here definitely is the Chimay white.

All right, great. Thank you very much.

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Source: https://www.washingtonian.com/2008/07/16/granville-moores-teddy-folkman-dishes-on-beating-bobby-flay/

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