Even a poorly executed milkshake still is probably pretty good. But to elevate the classic cool treat to a higher level of indulgence, tips from a milkshake master can help.

For that, we turn to Spike Mendelsohn, veteran of season four of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and creator of Washington’s Good Stuff Eatery, as famous for its milkshakes — including a to-die-for toasted marshmallow variety — as for its burgers.

To help usher in summer, Mendelsohn created a shake especially for The Associated Press. Inspired by s’mores, that classic campfire treat of toasted marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate, Mendelsohn picked flavors he hoped would appeal to people all across the country.

“It’s a shake that everyone can relate to,” he said during a shake-making session at his new Good Stuff location in Crystal City, Va. “S’mores are something everyone had growing up. It’s the kind of shake that puts a smile on people’s faces.”

To capture the thick, creamy, malt-shop quality of a great shake no matter what the variety, Mendelsohn offered the following tips.

— Start with frozen custard. Super-thick and richer than ice cream with more butterfat, custard will give your shake a silky texture and stuck-in-the-straw consistency. “To me, it’s the ultimate ingredient,” Mendelsohn says. Frozen custard is available in many grocers, and can be shipped overnight from online creameries. If all else fails, Mendelsohn says, use the highest butterfat ice cream you can find.

— The right stuff. “What ruins a milkshake is the equipment,” he says. Blenders infuse too much heat and friction where the blade spins, and that will melt your custard, resulting in a watery consistency. Instead, invest in an old-fashioned shake mixer — the kind with the single prong and metal cup — available online for about $30. The metal cup is key, he says, because it keeps all the ingredients cold while they’re being churned.

— Use a plain vanilla base. “Like with art, you start with a blank, white canvas,” Mendelsohn says. “Use plain vanilla custard and you can add elements that pop.” Toasted marshmallows, malted milk balls, candy, cookies and fruit purees are a good start. The only exception is for chocolate shakes, he says, which should start with chocolate custard.

— Texture makes your mouth happy. For smooth shakes, such as banana or plain chocolate, you want a super smooth consistency. For cookie shakes, or something with elements like malt balls or coconut, give it a little crunch throughout. “People like chunks,” he says.

— Garnish with panache. The garnish is the shake’s come on, broadcasting what it’s about and what you can expect from it. For a shake flavored with toasted marshmallows, stick one on top. Strawberry shake? Put a gorgeous piece of fruit on the rim, and maybe drizzle the top with glistening coulis. And every shake needs homemade, hand-whipped, super-thick whipped cream. “Just put a big bazonker on top,” Mendelsohn says.

Besides the famous toasted marshmallow shake, diners at Mendelsohn’s Good Stuff Eatery can choose from an imaginative variety: Vietnamese coffee, Milky Way malt ball, salty caramel kiss, and of course, the AP s’mores shake. But the chef’s favorite?

“I still just like chocolate shakes actually,” he says.

Though word is the restaurant has been soft open the past couple of evenings, tonight is the official opening of Good Stuff Eatery's new Crystal City location. While it's naturally a similar feel to the original Capitol Hill location, there are indeed a few changes at this second spot. Most obviously, the Crystal City restaurant is all on the ground level. But beyond that, it also has a party room, TVs in pretty much every sightline in an attempt to capture the evening crowd, and a whole lot more merchandise from former Top Chef contestant and currentLife After Top Chef star Spike Mendelsohn.

But there are also some menu changes — that as of now are also effective at the Capitol Hill location. New to the menu are a steakhouse burger toped with roasted crimini mushrooms, onion straws, swiss cheese and a steakhouse menu, as well as a salty caramel kiss milkshake. The ensalada wedge is being replaced with an American wedge topped with bacon, apples, blue cheese, red onion, and apple cider vinegar. They've also added more draft lines to bring it up to six draft beers, such as Batch 19, Peroni, Blue Moon, Miller Lite and more.

This new location is attempting to showcase the ice cream and milkshakes on the menu at Good Stuff. So they've also installed a 1936 Stanley Knight Bobtail soda fountain for root beer floats. Milkshakes are made right in front of the window so as to tempt passers-by. Oh and the creamery is located a glass room so that kids can see for themselves how the milkshake magic happens. The restaurant officially opens at 5 p.m.

Chef Spike Mendelsohn and his signature fedora made it to the final five ofTop Chef Season Four. Prior to that, he was working as working as chef de cuisine at Mai House when it was named one of the New York Times’ top 10 best new restaurants. He was trained in French cuisines and worked besides culinary titans such as Gerard Boyer at Les Crayères, Thomas Keller at Bouchon and the Maccioni family at Le Cirque.

Today, he lives in DC and has found his place in a less upscale kitchen. We caught up with him at the National Restaurant Association show that in Chicago over the weekend to talk about his life after Top Chef with his restaurant chain Good Stuff Eatery.

Zagat: What is the story behind Good Stuff Eatery?
Mendelsohn: I grew up in the restaurant industry and have seen every facet from a young age. At 31, I am a little bit ahead of other people who are the same age in the business. I grew up in Montreal in the restaurant business; my mother was a professional chef and owned restaurants her whole life. At a young age, I wanted to be that super famous chef with three Michelin stars at a fine-dining restaurant - those are all the restaurants I grew up in and trained. But life changes, and after doing the show I just wanted something fresh that I had never done before. Opening a fast-casual restaurant for me was a smart move. I figured why not take all my training and apply it to America’s favorite foods of hamburgers and pizza.

Zagat: How was the transition from fine dining to fast casual?
Mendelsohn: It was scary - I didn’t have any doubt I could pull it off, but because I had trained with all this fancy food and it was like, “Alright Spike, this is what you are going to do your whole entire life to open a burger place.” It’s been like a dream, ever since we opened these restaurants - they are very successful places.

Zagat: What are your plans for Good Stuff Eatery?
Mendelsohn: We have a location we are looking at in Chicago. We are looking for spots that really have the DC feel. I don’t think we will go to New York City; I don’t even think we will go to LA or California. Chicago is a meat and potatoes place - they like their steaks and potatoes. We would fit in very well over here, along with Philly and Boston. We are going to keep expansion limited in the United States and [then] go international.

Zagat: Where in Chicago would you go for the perfect burger?
Mendelsohn: We are going to open the perfect burger place.

Zagat: When you are in town for events such as this one, where do you like to dine?
Mendelsohn: I love Girl & the Goat, always support Stephanie Izard - I love her, she does a really good job. It may sound like a go-to answer, but I like Rick Bayless’ little empire. The man does amazing Mexican fare all over the spectrum.

Spike can really throw down! Complete with a photo booth, all star dj @Josh Madden and swanky digs - the vibe was definitely great that night. Unfortunately, I don't have a macro lens - so I won't degrade this post by posting blurry pictures of delicious food. First off, let me say the staff was top notch (I don't know if this will be the normal staff at the restaurant). 

Although, it's been on my "to eat" list for a while - I haven't been to the Good Stuff Eatery at Capitol Hill. That boded well this evening as I was able to come in with a fresh palate and enjoy the food for the very first time. Everything was delicious, but I will say the star for me was the mushroom burger; it had a surprise flavor upon every bite that left me wanting more.

It doesn't really fit for me to start rating brick and mortar restaurants with this being a food truck blog, but whether you are in the District or in Virginia, do yourself a favor and drop by this Eatery, it's good stuff.

PHOTOS HERE

Spike Mendelsohn brought some glitz and glamour to Crystal City Friday night at the private opening party for his newest Good Stuff Eatery location.

Read more here.

We found ourselves on Capitol Hill last week and, naturally, it necessitated a pit stop into a Crew favorite, Good Stuff Eatery.

We’re longtime fans of Chef Spike’s burgs, and while they’ll never win any beauty contests (by the time you unwrap ‘em from their paper shells, the buns are wrinklier than a Shar Pei), they do our bellies just right. Make no mistake about it, what these burgers lack in aesthetics, they more than make up for with taste. Our favorites of the bunch include the Prez Obama Burger and Good Stuff Melt, though last Friday’s tango with Spike’s Sunnyside –cheddar, bacon, Good Stuff sauce and a runny fried egg– left us feeling messy and more than alright.

Fortunately we won’t have to make the trek out to Capitol Hill for our Good Stuff fix much longer– a new Crystal City location opens up next month.

Today, Bravo announced a new series, Life After Top Chef, which will featureTop Chef's "most beloved former cheftestants," including DC's own Spike Mendelsohn. Yes, the show will follow around Mendelsohn and three other former cheftestapants — Jen Carroll, Richard Blais and Fabio Viviani — "as they reach milestones in their personal lives and culinary careers."

Of course, Mendelsohn is in the process of expanding Good Stuff Eatery into a mini-empire with a location soon to open in Crystal City and another bound for Georgetown at the end of the year. So that's where he fits in on this series about cheftestapants opening restaurants and "expanding their growing franchises." Head on over to Eater National for more on the show — "one of Bravo's worst-kept secrets" — and other food-related programming in Bravo's announcement.

Bravo audiences apparently haven't seen enough of Spike Mendelsohn yet.

After appearing on both "Top Chef" and "Top Chef All-Stars," the Good Stuff Eatery chef will next be profiled in a new Bravo series called "Life After Top Chef," which looks at how former contestants are doing in the industry now. The show was among many in the works that Bravo announced Wednesday.

Mendelsohn, as readers know, has beenbusy expanding his Good Stuff chain, among other projects. Also slated for the show are Philly's Jen Carroll, Atlanta's Richard Blais and fan favorite Fabio Viviani.

Air dates for the new show were not released.

They may be Washington Capitals, but they are Washington Wizards in the kitchen.

Defensemen Mike Green and Roman Hamrlik along with goaltender Tomas Vokoun joined local chef Spike Mendelsohn of "Top Chef" fame and four auction winners for a cooking lesson at the Old Naval Hospital in D.C.

The auction winners won the chance to participate in Saturday's lesson with a $11,500 bid at last month's Caps Care Casino Night and Auction. All proceeds went to Washington Capitals Charities.

Glittarazzi was there to document the lesson and the photos are worth a peek. The final products were probably delicious because Mendelsohn was not the only seasoned chef (or ingredient) present in the kitchen. Green had a burger recipe featured in Mendelsohn's cookbook, while both Hamrlik and Vokoun graduated from culinary school.

Coming soon from Hamrlik and Vokoun: "Czech Mates." Patent pending.

If you gave us the keys to a 7-Eleven, we’d walk out with a stack of lottery  tickets, an armload of forties, and Gummi Worm–induced intestinal cramping. Luckily,  three celebrity chefs came in with us, so we walked out full of three mind-blowing, mouthwatering meals.

More here

Should he ever build it, Spike Mendelsohn has elaborate plans for his dream kitchen.

“It’s in Maui, overlooking the ocean,” he says. “It has a huge marble island, gas appliances, a wood-burning oven, a plate warmer, huge sinks and refrigerators, a separate freezer, a great audio system, a full-service bar, a wine room . . . and a waterslide.”

Read more here

Tell someone you’re visiting Miami Beach and they’ll say you’ll have to eat a Cuban sandwich. Ask them where at and they’ll usually recommend one of two places: David’s Café or Puerto Sagua.

To settle the debate once and for all, we asked Spike Mendelsohn, chef of Good Stuff Eatery in Washington D.C. to join us in a sandwich versus sandwich taste test. What does a Capitol resident know about Cuban sandwiches?

“I grew up in a Spanish restaurant in Saint Petersburg, Florida where there happened to be a lot of Cuban people. We had a Cuban sandwich on the menu that was raved about,” Mendelsohn said. When the craving strikes, he still whips them up, constructing the crisp, savory sandwich with slow-roasted marinated pork, provolone cheese, and baked ham (the recipe below).

Could the highly touted David’s or Puerto Sagua compare? We provided the mission. Mendelsohn provided the miniature Cadillac.

VIDEO HERE

There is kosher and then there is kosher. I have known this truth for years, but last month I learned how much trust enters the axiom when cooking in a private home.

For the past four years, I have been one of the chairs of a joint fundraiser for DC Central Kitchen and Martha’s Table, two institutions that fight hunger and poverty in our nation’s capital. Each January, two chefs from across the country are paired up to cook for 20 people in a private home for each event; there are now 20 such dinners in Washington. Most of the food is donated, and all of the profits go straight to the two organizations. This year, for the first time, two couples who observe kashrutin their homes volunteered to host dinners.

As the person who decides who cooks where, keeping in mind that chefs often like challenges, I selected chefs who had never cooked a kosher meal before. When I telephoned Joe Palma of Eric Ripert’s Westend Bistro and Kaz Okochi of Kaz Sushi Bistro, both located in Washington, D.C., and asked them to cook kosher dinners, each one paused at first. But both of them soon accepted.

Like all good chefs, they accepted my challenge because they were curious. For them it was like being confronted with bizarre ingredients on a Top Chef challenge—which may explain their choice of partners in their respective kitchens. Although I explained the bare basics ofkashrut before they accepted, I added that they should really talk to their hosts, as everyone has different rules for their own homes. Since we would not be hiring a mashgiach to make sure the food was kosher and cooked in a kosher manner, it was up to the chefs to follow the laws of kashrut as prescribed in each home.

Okochi, an excellent sushi chef, took his task very seriously and learned which fish were and were not kosher. J.A. Henckels, one of our sponsors, offered him two new sushi knives for the dinner. He also bought new cutting boards, bowls, and sieves to prep the fish at his restaurant. The hosts, Steve Rabinowitz and Laurie Moskowitz, told Okochi that his rice cooker, only used for rice, was fine to use in their home. Rabinowitz, a public-relations specialist, told Okochi that it was easy to make a kosher meal. “All you need to know is what fish and meat you can and cannot use, that you can’t mix milk and meat, information you can get online,” he said. “And then you need to know the rules of the house.”

Okochi, who was very worried that he would do something wrong, looked at the list of acceptable fish carefully, and then staked out his two dishes. He was cooking with Spike Mendelsohn, a former Top Chef contestant whose father is Jewish and who operates a kosher food truck for the Sixth & I Synagogue in downtown D.C. The two agreed that Mendelsohn would make the main dish and dessert: a French roast with a coconut-milk-and-sweet-potato puree and a red-wine demi glace, and a chocolate mousse with olive oil for dessert. Jeff Morgan, hearing about the fundraiser from another chef, donated his Napa Valley kosher Covenant wines to accompany the dinner.

For Okochi, it was easy to figure out the kosher rules and find kosher products. But, when a guest informed him a week before the Jan. 22 dinner that she was allergic to all soy products, Okochi called me in a panic. As a Japanese chef, he was planning to use soy sauce and miso paste in his two dishes. “I was originally going to use salmon with soy sauce for everyone,” he explained. “Then I switched to a crudo-type dish of Tai snapper carpaccio with Asian greens, so as not to do two soy preparations.” For his second course, Okochi was planning an off-the-charts-delicious miso-marinated Chilean sea bass, so for the one guest with the soy allergy, he grilled the fish with a Mexican rub. “I knew that Chilean sea bass was really big and I didn’t want to buy a whole one, but thankfully [the hosts] let me buy a cut of it from a seafood market.”

“If you are hard-core observant, you would buy your fish in a kosher market or buy the whole fish and butcher it yourself,” said Moskowitz, a veteran political organizer. “For us it was OK, we buy cuts of fish.”

In the end, despite their nerves, the chefs tried to abide by their hosts’ specific rules of kashrutand created a successful meal.

“They were both very gracious about everything,” said Moskowitz. “Not knowing which bowl to use, you can’t just grab a spatula. It’s difficult, it’s nerve-wracking.”

For Joe Palma, making his first kosher meal at Roger and Cheri Friedman’s home in Bethesda, Md., was similarly unnerving. “You look at what you do and move back because you are out of your comfort zone,” he said. “It’s nice to be shaken out of your comfort zone every now and then.”

Palma teamed up with another former Top Chef contestant, Jennifer Carroll of Philadelphia. For their dinner, the Friedmans let the chefs do some of the prep in the Ritz-Carlton kitchen before they came. There, Palma showed me how he prepared Grow and Behold’s kosher, pasture-raised, Black Angus French Roast, a cut of meat from the shoulder similar in taste and texture to angler steak and London broil.

“To be honest, I thought the meal would be really bad,” he said while preparing meat sauce in a pan. “But I was really pleased with it.”

For Palma, the difficulty in making a gourmet kosher dinner lay in the butter. “I like to finish off my meat sauce with it,” he said. Instead, he reduced his stock, and would have added pureed vegetables to thicken it if it hadn’t tasted right. He could have also added an arrowroot slurry, using oil to thicken it. “I was extremely impressed with the quality of the meat we tasted,” he added.

Looking for a dessert, Carroll found an olive oil cake on the Internet, first mentioned inGourmet magazine in 2006. “I loved that cake,” said Palma, a recipe to which they added their chefs’ touch, serving it with black pepper and thyme glace, mountain huckleberry jam, and Seville orange coriander sorbet.

Even the most careful chef can make a mistake in the kitchen, especially when faced with unfamiliar rules. Okochi, who is cooking his second kosher dinner at a hotel later this month, had run the menu by the hosts and me. But none of us caught the ankimo pate wrapped in pickled daikon radish, served as one of the passed hors d’oeuvres: Ankimo, we all learned after the meal, is made from monkfish, which like catfish, wolfish, and dogfish, has no scales and is therefore not kosher. Nobody caught it until it was too late.

“I just have to pay attention a little more,” he said. “It was mental pressure. Usually when I cook, I just have to be careful not to burn myself, but it made me nervous not to make mistakes.”

From: Burger Days

We’re always up for a trek when it comes to burgering, but if that trek involves Miami and 30+ burgers from the some of the best-known burg chefs in the biz– we’re there with beefy bells on.

It all goes down this Friday at the super-duper-swanky Ritz-Carlton in South Beach where Burger Days will be all up in that sweet, beefy action at the gala of all burger galas– the 2012 SoBe Burger Bash. (Ok, the official name is the Amstel Light Burger Bash presented by Allen Brothers Steaks and Diet Pepsi hosted by Rachael Ray, but we get winded just thinking of typing that thing out).

In addition to eating as much as possible leading up to the big day, further prep include a round of spray tans for the Crew, learning all the words to Mr. Smith’s jam, and watching nothing but Bad Boys and Bad Boys II for the rest of the week. Damn straight, bienvenido a Miami.

Not only are we downright ecstatic for the opportunity to dive into burgers we only read about on the Internets, but we’re stoked that we’ll be getting up close and personal with the local joints taking their talents down to South Beach. Six burgers with D.C. locations are in the mix at the Bash, including two D.M.V. originals.

One of those locals is Mark Bucher from BGR, who’ll be making his Bash debut this Friday. Bucher told Burger Days he’s both excited and nervous about the competition and admits he’s feeling a lot of pressure. He’s been preparing for two months on his entry: his popular Wellington burger with a little twist– it’s topped with foie gras. And even though this is  Bucher’s first dance at South Beach, he’s no stranger to burger competition. Or accolades. At meat guru Josh Ozersky’s Feedbag Burger Summit in 2009, Bucher’s Wellington walked away with top honors. (Bonus: On the side, he’ll be hooking up sweet potato tater tots. Uhh Mark– can we get them suckers on the BGR menu??)

"What you know about my three medals?"

The other local boy ready to do his burger thing down south is Good Stuff Eatery’s Chef Spike Mendelsohn. Unlike Bucher, this ain’t Spike’s first rodeo; 2012 will be his fourth year laying it down on the grill in Miami, and not only that, he done won the whole thing in ’09. His Colletti’s Smokehouse –a staple during our Capitol Hill burger outings– cleaned up three years ago, winning People’s Choice, the Judges Award and Best Dressed Burger. What a stud.

Conceptualizing burgers for the past year in hopes to win back the title, Spike is breaking out an all-new burger this time that he says he didn’t come up with until just this January. And holy hell, are we looking forward to getting a piece of this one. Debuting at the Bash is Spike’s Steak-Frites burger with blue cheese, maitre d’ butter, french fries and béarnaise. Oh merdeyeah.

And fine, if Shake Shack won’t bring their latest creation to us, then we’ll just go to it. We’ve been pleading with themto bring their new SmokeShack- a  Shack cheeseburger topped with Applewood-smoked bacon, cherry pepper relish and ShackSauce– to their D.C. spot, but nope, it’s strictly a Madison Square Park exclusive (so far). Well, it just so happens that very burg is their entrant into this year’s Bash, so yeah, we’re circumventing the shit outta the system and getting our taste this way.

Rounding out the rest of the D.C. burgs are Bobby Flay and his Burger Palace with a Buffalo Style Burger with red hot sauce, blue cheese dressing –of course it’s “crunchified”– and PJ Clarke’s burger topped with Porter cheddar, Bluewood Farm double green relish with 1884 smoked ketchup catsup. The other spot allegedly participating is Serendipity 3, but they were absent from the Burger Bash menu and did not return our emails.

Now, we tried to go through the menu and pick the top burgers we want to try but, got damn, it’s impossible. The entire thing is ridiculous. It’s just plain silly.

There’s 32 burgers in the lineup and, we shit you not, every last one of them sounds amazing. Go ahead, take a look.

How can we pass up “the best burger in the world“? Or defending Bash champ Michael Symon’s B Spot? What aboutBulldog’s The Luther? And hopefully-soon-to-be-in-D.C. Flip Burger is coming with a country-fried cheeseburger? With pig belly?!? And we haven’t even mentioned the bacon jam burger…

What the hell are we gonna do?

We’ve got four days.

Four.

Days.

Operation Stomach Expansion is a go.

From: Chicago Tribune

Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery, center, works on his creation while competing in the Burger Bash at the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami Beach, Fla., Friday, Feb. 24, 2012.

From: Far Out City

Washington, DC isn’t exactly known for its cuisine.  I spent five years in the District, half of them not knowing where in the world to eat a decent meal. But, there are hidden gems tucked into its brick alleyways and indoor markets. If you’re willing to stray from Downtown and Penn Quarter, that is.

Here are my picks for cheap eats in our nation’s capital.

Good Stuff Eatery – Multiple Locations: Capitol Hill, Georgetown, and Crystal City

We affectionately call this place “Spike’s” after Spike Mendellsohn, its perpetual fedora wearing and Top Chef alumnus owner. This place was an overnight success in Capitol Hill, and deservedly so. It borrows heavily from the Shake Shack model (milk shakes and cheeseburgers), but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Good Stuff one-upped its inspiration.

The cheeseburgers are juicy and delicious. The ‘Shroom Burger – two portabella mushrooms, stuffed with Muenster and Cheddar cheese, and fried (basically Shake Shacks’s ‘Shroom Burger) – somehow manages to be tastier and more heart-clogging than its bovine colleagues. The wall of mayo options is brilliant, a perfect excuse to dunk French fries into mayonnaise without feeling like a total glutton (I mean, you need to taste them all, right?).  Once you’ve tasted the Toasted Marshmallow milkshake, which tastes like an icy creme brulee, you’ll never want another milk shake again.

From: The Hoya

If there is one thing that D.C. might have more of than cupcakeries, it has to be deluxe burger joints. From Ray’s Hell Burger to BGR to Shake Shack, the District has its fair share of options for those carnivores looking to sink their teeth into a patty hot off the grill.

On Capitol Hill, one of the most popular spots for burgers is Good Stuff Eatery. Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars alum Spike Mendelsohnn owns the joint, which serves up gourmet burgers and shakes and  has garnered a popular fan base that even includes President Obama. Fans in Georgetown can rejoice at the news that Good Stuff Eatery could be coming locally.

Early last week Good Stuff Eatery launched a new website that seemed to confirm the restaurant’s arrival in Georgetown. The location’s page hints that the burger place could open as early as this spring, but there is no official word on its location. There are rumors that it will take residence in the space formerly home to Georgetown Wings Co.; however, a lease has yet to be signed which would finalize the deal.

So while Georgetown will have to wait at least a few more months before enjoying a Prez Obama Burger or a Michelle Melt or a hand-spun toasted marshmallow milkshake, at least we have Five Guys and Thunder Burger to satisfy burger cravings.

From: D Magazine

First Lady Michelle Obama made a pit stop in Dallas this morning to promote her project,Let’s Move! inside the basketball court of Kleberg-Rylie Recreation Center. Her three-day national tour celebrates the second anniversary of her initiative designed to combat America’s growing obesity problem.

“Healthy food can be good and delicious too,” said Mrs. Obama to a room filled with Nancy Moseley Elementary students, “And that’s what we’re going to learn today.”

As 110 kids cheered, BRAVO’s Top Chefs Paul Qui, Grayson Schmitz, Richard Blais, Fabio Viviani, Jenn Carroll, and Spike Mendelssohn cooked healthy and nutritional meals within a 30 minute time limit under the watchful eyes of judges Tom Colicchio, Sam Kass (White House chef), and the First Lady.

Shiny egg-head Tom meets his brother-from-another-mother, Sam Kass – a fellow shiny egg-head. They stall the kids before the First Lady arrives, and their heads reflect all the light in the room.

First Lady Michelle Obama

Then the First Lady arrives and all the kids are fawning over her, of course. Who could dislike a woman who rocks J. Crew?

Red Team: Paul Qui, Grayson Schmitz, Dallas Cowboy DeMarcus Ware, and two Nancy Moseley students

What they cooked: Elizabeth and Anna (the students) grabbed fresh cantaloupe and carrots from the ingredients table and started peeling and chopping like pros. Sweaty Paul and blushing Grayson (who is so photogenic, by the way) created turkey bacon tacos with fresh tortillas made in a baby oven. There was quinoa and slaw (made out of fennel, cabbage, and carrots) on the side. Grayson and the kids mixed skim milk with sweet melon to create a smoothie-like drink that the First Lady enjoyed.

What the judges said: “A lot of flavor for healthy food, but doesn’t taste like it,” praised Tom Colicchio.

Random: Paul wore skin-tight jeans while Grayson flirted with #94 Demarcus Ware. Future love couple, maybe?

P.S. The press release tricked me. Paul was supposed to be here, not Ed. Hmm. Does this mean Paul doesn’t win Top Chef? Must think about this…

White Team: Spike Mendelssohn, Jenn Carroll, Dallas Cowboy Miles Austin, and two Nancy Moseley students

What they cooked: Smoked pork chops with apple sauce, sweet potato, greek yogurt with whole wheat pita chips

What the judges said: “Flavors were good and not too seasoned,” said Tom, while Mrs. Obama told Spike and Jenn that it reminded her of comfort food.

DeMarcus Ware and other Cowboys cheer on their respective teams.

I got a little too close to blue team member, Fabio..

Blue team: Richard Blais, Fabio Viviani, Felix Jones, DeMarco Murray, and two students

What they cooked: Spiced turkey tenderloin, carrots, peas, and chocolate pudding with no chocolate in it.

What the judges said: Tom thought the dishes were rich and colorful.

Random: Richard Blais had Michelle Obama sign his wife’s birthday card, because his wife told him he couldn’t leave Texas without her autograph. What a smart wife!

The judges conferring.

Tom to First Lady: “Talk to the hand, not the face!”

First Lady: “No, I must speak to your egg-head!”

… just kidding. That would never happen. Instead, they discussed which team won the competition. Then Mrs. Obama announced that the winner was “Red, White, and Blue.”

Grayson toasts the kids.

Speech time.

Mrs. Obama made the following remarks: “As everybody here knows, this challenge is run by the Department of Agriculture, or the USDA as we call it. And it recognizes schools that meet the highest national standards for nutrition and physical activity — the highest standards. These schools are the schools that are finding creative, innovative ways to serve healthy meals and to get kids active. So it’s a twofer — it’s not just nutrition, but it’s also physical activity. And these high-ranking schools are doing it at a time when budgets are tight — and we all know that budgets are tight — and there aren’t a whole lot of resources to go around, again, which is why this competition is important, because schools are being asked to do so much more with less.

Right here in Dallas, more than 150 schools have been recognized in this challenge. That includes 78 schools that have earned Gold Awards, which go to schools that meet the highest levels of standards. And that’s more than any other school district in the entire country. Did you hear that? Dallas, you have more Gold schools in this district than anywhere in the country. And that includes schools like Nancy Moseley Elementary School!”

Richard Blais – who’s already heavily involved with children’s health and nutrition around the nation – told us, “Mrs. Obama has inspired me to get involved in the local scene.”

From: Eater

Last night, Michelle Obama met with parents at a Fort Worth Olive Garden to discuss improving the health of our nation's children -- with regard to eating and exercise -- with local parents. The choice of location was met with some contention, because, as Tim Love pointed out via Twitter, they do have thoseendless breadsticks.

But, then, if you're talking about America, you'd go where America goes, not where the people who are already doing it right are already doing it right. Wouldn't you bring the people who do it right to the places where people don't? You just might not say that out loud, so much. To start anyway.

Today, however, the First Lady rewarded (sorta) the kids and teachers fromNancy Moseley Elementary already on the right track after earning a Gold Award in the HealthierUS Schools Challenge.

The Kleberg/Rylie Recreation Center, however, isn't the most ideal place for a 30-minute Top Chef-style cooking challenge hosted by Tom Colicchio and White House chef and Senior Policy Advisor of Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass when there are only two emcee mikes, stands full of children, a press box, security and a reality film crew capturing every moment for Bravo's Life After Top Chef. Oh, and a very long wait.

"You see, kids?" Colicchio asked the crowd. "This is how TV is made. It's called hurry up and wait."

This after a too-long stretch session with Rowdy the Dallas Cowboys mascot. And two introductions for each team -- and their Dallas Cowboys (America's Team, lest we forget) hype men, DeMarcus Ware, Miles Austin, Felix Jones, and DeMarco Murray. It's also, surely, how security and the third state in a 3-day tour goes.

The challenge: to make a healthy school lunch in half an hour. There was a "pantry" but save the kids, no one ran to it. Team Blue, Fabio Viviani and Richard Blais, urged the kids in blue to chant for them. Team White, Spike Mendelsohn and Jennifer Carroll, following suit. Team Red, Grayson Schmitz and Paul Qui (that's right the press release was wrong -- no Edward Lee), earning the highest pitched squeals. Texas, y'all.
Tiny elementary sized sous chefs helped their adult counter-parts with chopping and slicing, while the First Lady and Kass visited each team of kids and asked them "Who's an A student? Who likes vegetables? Who's going to college?" among other things.

The chefs prepped items for tasting -- it wasn't clear how much actual cooking was taking place -- and Colicchio, Kass, Obama and the various Cowboys asked questions and looked on. The highlight of this section was definitely seeing Schmitz mouthing "KEEN-WAH" to an inquisitive Ware, explaining it was a grain full of protein and then giving her biggest smile.

The "judging" -- which amounted to a semi-huddle interrupted by Ware -- resulted in a "Top Chef first": a three-way tie. Who wins? Red, white and blue, naturally.

Overall, it was a rally. And what else would it be, really? With a hard-to-sell-to-kids message, Let's Move is celebrating its second anniversary andChefsMovetoSchools.org, a site aimed at helping chefs and schools find each other and form partnerships more easily, launched today. As Obama spoke to the crowd following the entertainment, there were a distracted kids during the parts with stats and names like Department of Agriculture, but when she directly addressed them, they were totally focused.
It's important to eat right, it's important to get your exercise, but it's more important to be a good student -- that all of these things add up. It is very hard to focus at school if you don't have good fuel in your body. And that is the truth. This isn't just a grownup telling you to eat your vegetables. The truth is, is that your brain works better on good food. And we need you guys to be at your very best, because you're going to be the ones that are going to be the next leaders for our country, right?

Afterward, Obama hugged the chefs and mini-sous before heading to Florida for her next stop. Austin's Top Cheftestant Paul Qui agreed with Grayson Schmitz that cooking for the First Lady was far less stressful than any Top Chef elimination challenge. They were also impressed (and probably considerably less stressed) that their assistants knew how to use their knives.

Qui said he had no other Let's Move events on his roster but would "totally be into participating in others" and would like to find out more info on the Chefs Move to Schools program.

Mendelsohn offered that he's "very much a supporter of Michelle Obama's initiative" while Blais, who is already active in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, said hearing about the Chefs Move program has inspired him to get more active locally. (He also divulged that he had Obama sign a birthday card to his 1-year-old daughter while she was at his table.)

Beginning today, guests of Good Stuff Eatery will be able to get more than a milkshake to sweeten up their meals.
The DC burger haven can now add chocolate to its list of items for sale. Inspired by its line of milkshakes, Chef Spike Mendelsohn has paired with CoCo Sala Executive Chef, Santosh Tiptur, to create custom chocolate treats.
Chef Spike Mendelsohn (far left) and Chef Santosh Tiptur (far right) address a crowd at CoCo Sala
"We had been thrown around ideas of having something sweet, other than milkshakes, at Good Stuff," said Chef Spike. And what's better than a good chocolate bar?  Inspirations include Spike's Toasted Marshmallow shake, the Milky Way Malt, and the Soursop Hop Strawberry.
The candy bar version of the toasted marshmallow shake is made with 55% Venezuelan dark chocolate and toasted mini marshmallows. Milk chocolate and malt balls create another bar, but the most whimsical is the certainly the last. The chefs have created a white chocolate bar and added dehydrated strawberries, and pop rocks "to add some magic to it," said Chef Tiptur.
The bars will be available for purchase alone or in packages of three.
Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake inspired dessert at CoCo Sala
With CoCo Sala at the helm, and with a reputation of using only premium ingredients, Good Stuff Eatery guests will be in for a real treat. Literally.

From: Popdust

The Grammy Awards are Sunday, which means by now you’ve probably completed a pool and are poring over updated predictions—or simply bought your weight in tortilla chips and a new pair of roomy sweats for your annual viewing party. We spare no judgments on the latter, as all award shows are best enjoyed with a hefty supply of highly enjoyable foods at the ready. (Sometimes the only way to make sense of Grammy ruling is through multiple pieces of pie.) We’ve pulled together a collection of Grammy recipes from top chefs around the country, as well as a few costume and party ideas for the big night. Prepare yourselves for a full fiesta with our nominee-themed party kit below.

Step one: Supply some rocking snacks.

Bruno Mars-Mallow Shake By Spike Mendelsohn

• 1 16-ounce bag jumbo marshmallows
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups creamy vanilla ice cream
• 1 tablespoon sour cream

Spike Mendelsohn is a TV personality, cook book author, chef and owner of two DC hotspots: Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza.

On Day #2 of her three-day tour marking the first anniversary of her “Let’s Move” program, first lady Michelle Obama was in Dallas to tape a segment of the popular TV cooking show “Top Chef,” to promote her initiative to make school lunches more tasty and nutritious.

Mrs. Obama was one of the judges of a competition, in which three teams, composed of “Top Chef” chef-testants and student sous-chefs, prepared lunches, in 30 minutes, using fruits and vegetables (the chefs included Fabio Viviani, Jennifer Carroll and Spike Mendelsohn, the crowd favorite).

The other two judges were “Top Chef” host Tom Colicchio (of Craft fame), and Sam Kass, the assistant White House chef and Mrs. Obama’s advisor on her healthy-eating initiative. Kass and Colicchio warmed up the crowd of school children at a recreation center, describing the White House’s efforts to improve lunch menus by pairing big-name chefs with schools. He then introduced “helpers,” including Dallas Cowboys football players (names below) and the team’s mascot, Rowdy, clad in oversize boots and a cowboy hat.

When it came time to introduce the first lady, however, there was a scheduling glitch, as she was still doing a media interview. After two introductions and no first lady, some awkward stalling ensued, as Colicchio and Kass horsed around with Rowdy (“you’re cheesy, you’re cheesy,” Colicchio said to Rowdy, as the mascot snatched a piece of cheese off a table of ingredients).

Finally, after the room had fallen into silence, the hosts gave it a third try, and the first lady strode into the gym to noisy applause.”Are you guys fired up?” she asked the kids. “The whole point of this is making sure you’re healthy.”

“It’s time to get this competition started,” she added, to no disagreement from the impatient crowd.

After the kids and the Cowboys raced across the gym to gather ingredients, they brought them back to cooking stations, where the chefs began assembling them into lunches.

As the cooking was underway, Mrs. Obama mixed with kids, high-fiving them and quizzing them on their eating habits. Later, she made her way to the cooking stations, where pots were steaming and pans sizzling.

The first lady asked the teams to describe their dishes, putting the emphasis on what was healthy.

“Stay focused,” she said to one of the young sous-chefs.Thirty minutes turns out to be a long time when you’re entertaining a roomful of 10- to 13-year-olds.  Mrs. Obama made her way to the second, and then third, group of kids.

At one point, Kass asked for a show of hands of which students who likes vegetables (more than half claimed to).Back at the cooking station, Colicchio was getting up in the grill of one of the chefs.

“Why are you using this ingredient?” he barked. “It’s healthy?” the chef replied.”If it’s not delicious, the kids will tell you,” Kass added.

As the minutes ticked off the clock, the kids cheered for their teams (red, white, and blue).”Who likes quinoa?” Colicchio asked the crowd, which seemed mystified.

Finally, the buzzer rang, and the three judges began sampling the meals, starting with the red team. Colicchio proclaimed the team’s whole wheat turkey taco “really delicious.”

The white team was next, offering a homemade applesauce. “This is like comfort food,” the first lady said.

Blue team offered a salad with arugula, carrots, and avacado puree. “Colorful, flavorful, and balanced,” said Colicchio.

The three judges huddled for several long moments in mid-court, pushing away Cowboy player DeMarcus Ware when he tried to eavesdrop (other players on hand: Felix Jones, DeMarco Murray).

Mrs. Obama, standing behind the “Top Chef” podium, said it was a tough call, and then announced that all three teams had won.

“The point in our decison,” she said, was that when you pair great chefs with schools, “everybody wins.”

The first lady then spoke about her initiative to upgrade the menus of schools, announcing that 1,589 new schools had met new, higher standards thid year.

Then the kids chanted “First Lady, First Lady,” and the event was a wrap.

From: Politico

First lady Michelle Obama was in Dallas Friday to judge a Top Chef cooking competition as part of her three-day Let's Move national tour.

Obama joined White House chef Sam Kass and "Top Chef" host Tom Colicchio as judges in a televised competition that paired child sous-chefs with professional chef — all former contestants on the Bravo television show. Fabio Viviani, Jennifer Carroll and Spike Mendelsohn were the celebrity chef contestants.

"Are you guys fired up?" Obama asked the kids before the event started. "The whole point of this is making sure you're healthy."

At the end of the 30 minute competition, the three chefs-student teams produced whole wheat turkey tacos, homemade applesauce and an arugula, carrot and avocado salad. The three judges were unable to declare a winner, declaring that all three teams won.

"The point in our decision," Obama said, was that when you pair great chefs with schools, "everybody wins."

Dallas local news site Pegasus News reported that the Top Chef taping was part of a Bravo show called "Life After Chef," a spinoff of the popular cooking series.

From: Refinery 29

There are a few things that we, as Washingtonians, have to have done at least once, for our claim to residency to be taken seriously. Things like visiting the monuments at night, downing a half-smoke at Ben's Chilli Bowl, and taking in the cherry blossoms. Also in that mix? Slurping up the famed toasted marshmallow shake at Good Stuff Eatery (or any of their dangerously addictive shakes, for that matter).

The creative flavor combos of these crazy-decadent drinks (malted chocolate Milky Way shake, nomnomnom) are an overwhelming taste-gasm — we've actually considered moving a little closer to Good Stuff, they're that good. We couldn't have dreamed a way for them to up the ante in the delish department, but the folks at Good Stuff and Penn Quarter chocolatier Co Co. Sala have proven otherwise.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, they teamed up to turn Good Stuff's three most popular handspun milkshakes into — you guessed it — chocolate bars. We're talking dark chocolate toasted marshmallow, milk chocolate Milky Way malt, and soursop hop strawberry white chocolate. After hearing those names, we feel sorry for store-bought chocolate, which we can't envision ever eating again. The bars are available at Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill today, and we wouldn't be surprised if someone buys out the stock to re-sell on eBay. Jason Wu, who?

From: Pegasus News

First Lady Michelle Obama got a big boost of Top Chef starpower when she was joined by Top Chef host Tom Colicchio and six contestants at a rec center in Dallas -- part of her three-day tour to bring attention to childhood obesity and celebrate the second anniversary of her Let's Move campaign.

Emceed in part by White House chef Sam Kass, the healthy cooking competition featured Top Chefs Richard Blais, Fabio Viviani, Jenn Carroll, Spike Mendelsohn, Grayson Schmitz, and Paul Qui, while students from Nancy Moseley Elementary School in Dallas watched and cheered from bleachers. In the end, no winner was picked: When kids eat healthy food, "everybody's a winner," Obama said.

The event took place on the basketball court at the Kleberg-Rylie Recreation Center, which had been turned into the set of the Bravo show Life After Top Chef, complete with temporary lamps hanging from the rafters for better light.

Six students scored the high-profile assignment of running ingredients back and forth to the cooking stations where the Top Chefs were tasked with creating a healthy meal in 30 minutes. The chefs were paired up and placed on the red, white, or blue team. Season 9 contestants Grayson and Paul were paired together and dubbed by Colicchio the "Texas team." The blue team was Fabio and Richard, and White was Jenn and Spike.

To help cheer on the chefs as "hype men" wereDallas Cowboys players Felix Jones, DeMarcus Ware, Miles Austin, DeMarco Murray, and their smiley mascot Rowdy -- who did quite the song and dance while about 100 5th and 6th graders waited patiently for the first lady to appear.

"You see kids, this is how TV is made -- it's called hurry up and wait," Colicchio said, chuckling, as he and Rowdy ad-libbed for several minutes.

The first lady arrived at 9:35 a.m., and then it began: The chefs stirred steaming pots while their young helpers ran and grabbed fresh ingredients. The red team's strategy was to have Grayson work with 6th graders Anna and Elizabeth while Paul stirred, emulsified, and tasted quietly to the side.

First Lady Michelle Obama told Dallas ISD students, "Your brain works better on good food. And we need you guys to be at your very best, because you're going to be the ones that are going to be the next leaders for our country right?"

Just like on television, the judges occasionally reminded contestants how much time was left on the clock, which ticked away on the rec center's light-up scoreboard. The chefs toiled away to make sure their meals contained dairy, protein, whole grains, and fruit.

Time's up. The red team made whole wheat turkey tacos with alfalfa sprouts and quinoa, served with homemade cantaloupe juice; the blue team made turkey tenderloin; and the white team made pork chops with applesauce. Obama dabbed her lips daintily after trying several dishes, making positive comments about the nutritional value or recounting how tasty healthy food can be.

After picking "everybody" as the winner, Obama said that Dallas ISD schools have done an especially good job of serving nutritional food. "You are really leading the way for schools," she said.

Cheflebrity Spike Mendelsohn, one of the local burgermeisters actively sought out by certain residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., is rolling out new gourmet chocolate bars modeled after the signature milkshakes mixed up at Good Stuff Eatery.

The oversized confections will sell for $5 apiece at the flagship Capitol Hill outpost — and the forthcoming Crystal City, Va., and Georgetown locations — beginning this Friday.

Co Co. Sala executive chef Santosh Tiptur said he relished the opportunity to translate Mendelsohn’s sippable sweets into a bite-sized format. “It’s always interesting and challenging when you try and re-create someone else’s imagination,” he told HOH.

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

Mendelsohn tapped Good Stuff’s three most popular shakes — the Soursop Hop Strawberry (thick, fruity draw inundated with strawberry syrup), Milky Way (treat-filled soup stocked with crumbled malted milk balls and twin streams of caramel and fudge sauces) and Toasted Marshmallow (coconutty cooler festooned with a floating, lightly caramelized marshmallow) — for the prototype chocolate bars.

Although embellished with always fun Pop Rocks, the strawberry bar struck us as the most faithful re-creation of its hand-spun counterpart. Of course, we absolutely loved the Milky Way bar’s malt ball crunch and melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate (40 percent Venezuelan chocolate). We could take or leave the toasted marshmallow bar (dark chocolate was a nice touch).

We also noticed that the “exclusive” Soursop Hop Strawberry Bar appears to be a carbon copy of Tiptur’s pre-existing Strawberry Jammin’ Bar. But given that treat retails for $10 a pop, chocoholics will be able to enjoy Mendelsohn’s version at a 50 percent discount.

From: NBC5

First lady Michelle Obama will head to North Texas this week for a one-two punch of events promoting healthy eating and exercise programs.

First, Mrs. Obama will head to a Fort Worth Olive Garden location for a round-table dinner on Thursday evening. Parents who are volunteering with Mrs. Obama's "Let's Move" initiative will participate in a discussion about healthy eating and exercise activities during the dinner.

Next, the first lady will head across town to a Dallas event at Nancy Moseley Elementary on Friday to celebrate the second anniversary of her "Let's Move" initiative to fight childhood obesity. She won't be alone, though.

Top Chef contestants (or Chef'testants for those who speak Bravo language) from this season and years past will join the first lady for the Friday event.

Top Chef All-Stars winner Richard Blais, fan favorite Fabio Viviani, all-stars Jenn Carroll and Spike Mendelsohn, plus season nine (Top Chef: Texas) chefs Grayson Schmitz and Ed Lee will compete in a healthy eating cook-off with students from the school.

From: Washington Post

Rachael Ray dining at Rasika Tuesday night in a party of 10 that included D.C. chef Spike Mendelsohn. Palak chaat, cauliflower, chicken masala — though Ray lavished specific praise on the restaurant’s cucumber Vesper (it’s a gin drink)in a tweet. The foodie TV host was in town for a healthy-eating promotion Wednesday withMichelle Obama at Parklawn Elementary in Fairfax County.

Celebrity chef Rachael Ray was spotted out to dinner at Rasikawith nine guests Tuesday night, including "Top Chef" contestant and Good Stuff Eatery owner Spike Mendelsohn. The group was there for about two hours and chowed down on a selection of appetizers and entrees including the palak chaat, the cauliflower bezule and the green chicken masala.

After years of celebrating boutique meats such as Berkshire pork and heritage turkey, chefs have fallen hard for another protein. Goat has been embraced everywhere from sustainability-focused restaurants like Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and Blue Hill in New York to "Top Chef" winner Stephanie Izard's Chicago spot Girl and the Goat. The meat has become so popular among chefs that many now complain about not being able to source enough of it.

Spike Mendelsohn, the chef behind Washington, D.C., restaurants Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza, said he used to buy goat from Greek butcher shops in Queens, when he lived in New York. His Greek family has a long tradition of spit-roasting marinated goat leg. He likes to make stock from the bones.