Steak Frites: Recreating a French Classic

Jonathan in DC. Traveling often inspires the greatest meals!

Classic Steak Frites, delicious and accessible.

Just back from a trip to Washington, D.C., I wanted to post about a quintessential French brasserie favorite which had been right under my nose for several years… a dish called Steak Frites. A snow storm kept me in the Capital for an extra day, which led to a second meal at Le Diplomate, the town’s new and very French eatery on 14th street. Never having ordered Steak Frites before (though it is an oft offered menu item in many places), I was completely bowled over by the great pleasure I had eating this extremely simple dish: steak with fries, accompanied with compound butter and aioli. This was the stuff of simple pleasures, the embodiment of steak and potatoes.

Thanksgiving Tips, Dry-Brined Turkey Tutorial, Roasted Harvest Vegetables & Recipe Round-Up

Brussels sprouts, nicely browned.

Acorn squash, ready for the table!

Thanksgiving is essentially the ultimate celebration of food. This holiday combines the notions of seasonality, tradition, family and (let’s face it) excess into a single meal the represents all for which we are thankful. Here at OurLocaltopia we have spent the past few months gearing up for Thanksgiving through a series of recipe and technique focused posts that run the gamut from traditional to nouveau. As the big day approaches, we of course have even more of these recipes and techniques to share! In this post, Jonathan Dye reveals a variety of his own hints for taking some of the stress and work out of Thanksgiving dinner prep, including his suggestion for quicker cooking, spatchcocked turkey prep. Jonathan Duffy Davis takes us through a step-by-step tutorial on dry-brining and whole roasting your turkey, and shares his recipes for perfectly roasted harvest vegetables. Finally, we recap the various recipes we have explored this fall so they can be used on your own holiday table!