From: 40 Dishes Every Washingtonian Must Try

The smoky-sweet taste of a campfire s'more is captured in liquid form at celeb chef Spike Mendelsohn's Good Stuff Eatery, where, since 2008, many a Capitol Hill office worker has waited in queue for the hand-spun, uberthick shake laced with real charred marshmallows and sour cream. "It took every ounce of class in me not to stick my fingers in the shake to grab the mallow," wrote Shari Grunspan of Florida, who nominated this sweet little number for Washington's most essential eat. "Class lost. Mallow won."

Read more: Washington Post

From: It's time for D.C. Tweeps.

For the second year in a row, we're giving readers a chance to nominate and vote for their favorites in local social media.

We combed through more than 475 of last year's reader nominations to build a preliminary ballot that includes D.C. Tweeps nominees in 13 categories, from your favorite food truck to your favorite D.C.-area blogger. We still need your help to add nominees.

Submit your wildcard nomination here, and read on for a Q&A with 2010's Favorite Restaurateur winner - he's the owner of Good Stuff Eatery, and he calls himself @chefSpike:

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Name: Spike Mendelsohn

Location: Washington, DC

Twitter handle: @chefspike

In 200 words or less, please give us a short, witty bio about yourself or your institution: Born in Montreal. Half Greek, half Jewish – Grewish. I’m a hockey and UFC loving chef who could probably make a career of getting kicked off reality TV shows. You can find me on Capitol Hill where I am the chef and owner of Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza. Part-time surfer, full-time bacon eating Jew.

If you were a D.C. landmark, you’d be … the Giant Adirondack Chair on Reservoir Road.

If you suddenly woke up on the other side of the world, unable to return, what would you miss most about D.C.? My family. I moved to D.C. to be closer to my parents and sister. I’d miss my niece Catherine most of all.

What’s the best part of Washington – the one that no one knows about?

Maine Ave Fish Market - noisy, smelly, steamy and full of fresh seafood.

Why should you win Top Tweep again? I try to keep the Twitter world entertained and informed. Also, I follow all of my followers back.

From:  The good stuff: ‘Top Chef,’ ‘Iron Chef’ contestant to visit Frederick

Most people know Chef Spike Mendelsohn as the outgoing, fedora-wearing "Top Chef: Chicago" contestant with a weakness for good old American food.

Ironically, the Canadian-born Mendelsohn -- who is trained in classical French cuisine -- most enjoys whipping up a mean burger with a side of fries and a shake. These yummy classics and other foods found coast to coast are what Mendelsohn refers to as "the good stuff."

He also appeared in "Top Chef All-Stars," "Iron Chef America," and the current season of the Food Network's "The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs." Mendelsohn cites renowned chef Anthony Bourdain as his biggest culinary inspiration. Mendelsohn currently serves as the CBS "Early Show" food correspondent, has appeared on episodes of various cooking shows and participates in demonstrations and speaking engagements around the country.

After relocating to Washington four years ago to be closer to family, Mendelsohn opened Good Stuff Eatery with his parents and sister and followed up with his New York-style pizzeria, We, The Pizza, on Pennsylvania Avenue in 2010. The Mendelsohns will open a Good Stuff Eatery in the Crystal City area of Arlington in 2012, followed by one in Georgetown, he said.

Mendelsohn will be in Frederick on Thursday, Dec. 1, as part of the Frederick Arts Council's fourth annual Festival of Greens. He will discuss and sign copies of his latest cookbook, "The Good Stuff Cookbook: Burgers, Fries, Shakes, Wedges and More" at 6 p.m. at the Cultural Arts Center, 15 N. Market St. The book will be available for purchase.

We reached Mendelsohn by email between his back-to-back trips to Hawaii and Vietnam and asked him about the cookbook's inspiration, what makes him and his work unique and what he enjoys doing whenever he finds himself in the Frederick area.

FNP: What was the inspiration for the cookbook?

SM: The cookbook is really inspired by the food we serve at my restaurant, Good Stuff Eatery. Most of our menu items are in the book, along with some special recipes that come from my family and travels.

FNP: You tend to do a lot of traditional American fare. What attracts you to this type of food?

SM: I think that in this economy, and probably in general, people are more inclined to go back to their comfort foods. There are always times when we want to venture out there and try something foreign to us, but when push comes to shove, we want those classic American comfort foods that we are nostalgic for.

FNP: What makes you and your food unique? Do you have a "style" in the kitchen?

SM: Love makes my food unique. A lot of what I do in the kitchen reflects family traditions.

For instance, I always wrap my burgers in wax paper, because my grandfather did.

My mom, who has been in the business my entire life, has been teaching me every day of my life.

FNP: Have you ever been to Frederick? What is the signing and talk here going to consist of? What will you be talking about?

SM: I've been a few times since I moved to D.C. four years ago, but not as often as I'd like. I try to make it to Volt whenever I'm in town. The signing will be a great opportunity to talk with everyone about Good Stuff Eatery's expansion and Good Stuff Gardens. Good Stuff Gardens is my initiative to support the first lady's Let's Move Campaign.

I am working with local KIPP Academy schools to build gardens with the students. They learn to take care of a garden, how to grow fresh ingredients and then we do a cooking demonstration with the kids and their parents using the vegetables that the students harvest.

I hope that I have a chance to talk with everyone in Frederick about Good Stuff Gardens and the importance of helping young students learn about healthy living.

FNP: What has been the most challenging thing you have faced in your career?

SM: My family. I work with my parents and sister. You can only imagine what happens when you stick a Grewish (Greek and Jewish) family in our small office and expect us to get work done.

FNP: What's the coolest thing you've gotten to do in the past few years since appearing on "Top Chef"?

SM: I've had so many opportunities to give back to the D.C. community. When I first moved here, I felt a lot of love and support from the people around the city. It was amazing.

But the best thing I've been able to do is try to make an impact in my city. I have a few organizations that are really close to my heart, like DC Central Kitchen and Horton's Kids.

It has been a privilege to get involved with these organizations and help shed light on some worthy causes.

From Eater DC

By Amy McKeever

Last night was the return of the DC Central Kitchen's annual fundraiser, the Capital Food Fight. The event pits four local chefs - Haidar Karoum, Jeff Black, Todd Gray and Brian McBride - against one another in three Top Chef Quickfire-style challenges in between live auctions, sponsor speeches and tastings from some of DC's finest restaurants. There were also food celebrities! There was the judging panel: Ming Tsai, Food Network host Ted Allen and food writer Joan Nathan. But mostly people were there to allowJosé Andrés and Anthony Bourdain entertain them. Here are some of the highlights:

Bantering about their outfits: Andrés defended his choice of menswear by saying that not everyone can dress as well as Bourdain, who replied, "I stole it from Bobby Flay."

Lamenting his own strong Spanish accent, Andrés introduced Ming Tsai as a Chinese person without an accent. Tsai: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you just said." Well-played.

In the first round of the competition, Proof's Haidar Karoum admitted to trying to buy off Bourdain by adding bacon his dish.

Bourdain told everyone to watchthe upcomingSimpsons food episodefeaturing José Andrés, "but strangely it's somebody else's voice."

Bourdain noted that he and Tom Colicchio drink gin and tonic while judging Top Chef. Colicchio likes Bombay.

Andrés commanded a lot of attention throughout the evening: "Please, I need a cameraman. Where are you?"

Haidar Karoum's first dish of the night involved eggs and looked kind of amazing. Andrés agreed: "Who wants to pay $50,000 to eat these eggs? ... They're telling me, 'Eat me, José. They are so sexy."

Jeff Black made a dish that Andrés and Bourdain referred to as a "sexy Kardashian breast."

Bourdain on Top Chef: That's a pretty low threshold of talent. Andrés replied that "not all of them, but many of them can cook," citing Bryan Voltaggio and Mike Isabella. Bourdain seemed unconvinced and later asked Andrés the age-old desert island question: Marcel Vigneron or "the dumbest Kardashian." To avoid answering, Andrés pretended his microphone had cut out by saying into the microphone that his microphone was not working.

The very first live auction was dinner for six at 12 DC restaurants - one for each month. Bourdain bid $6,000 and, joking that he didn't want this package to go to a New Yorker, Andrés threw in six seats at Minibar to sweeten the deal. Bourdain went up to $8,000 and tried to rile up the crowd: "In New York City, we would definitely be bidding higher. I'm just saying." It went for $9,000.

Bourdain made a joke abou tMario Batali raising more than $9,000 just getting out of bed. Andrés: "Afterwhat he said about the bankers, I don't think he's raising much more."

Brian McBride made a dish using foie gras and Bourdain pointed out that it is still legal in such an "enlightened" place as DC.

Bourdain and Andrés go to Cayman together every year and Bourdain warned that "you haven't lived until you've seen José Andrés in a speedo." In turn, Andrés told everyone that Bourdain is going to do scuba for the first time this year - so now that Bourdain has annoyed every human being on the planet he is going to go annoy every fish in the ocean.

Even though Mike Isabella, Spike Mendelsohn and Jen Carroll were onstage before the program got underway, everyone pretended to be surprised that they were the contenders along with Carla Hall in the evening's "surprise battle." This is where it became clear that Bourdain and Andrés had totally orchestrated the evening's banter ripping on Top Chef contestants - probably planned over mezcal at Oyamel. Shrugging off the insults, Spike just reminded Bourdain that "everyone here has seen your nuts."

Spike made a potato-based dish in ball form and Andrés takes the opportunity to point out "Spike's balls."

Spectators standing at the foot of the stage kept calling out for Andrés and Bourdain to auction off more Minibar seats and to come fist-bump them. At some point they encouraged Andrés into chugging a beer onstage. Immediately following that, it was Bourdain who knocked over Mike Isabella and Jen Carroll's basket of pancetta. Spike and Carla won.

It turns out that Carla Hall does a really incredible auctioneer impression and they kept her onstage for the rest of the evening's live auctions.

The final auction is a trip to the Aspen Food & Wine Classic. In his hard sell, Andrés promised to hand-feed caviar to the highest bidder and make sure they get invited to all the unofficial Aspen parties: "Where I go, you go."

Proof's Haidar Karoum pulled out the win against Todd Gray in the final battle of the night, earning him a pair of boxing gloves and eternal glory. Until next year.

As soon as the festivities were over, the crowd filtered out of the Reagan Building and over to Zaytinya for the after-party.

From:  Next Iron Chef's Spike on the New Twist, "Culinary Assassin" Anthony Bourdain

By Hanh Nguyen

Chef Spike Mendelsohn may have competed on Bravo's culinary reality show Top Chef -- twice -- but he still didn't expect to be recruited for Food Network's Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, which premieres Sunday at 9/8c.
"I got the phone call out of nowhere. I was actually quite surprised," Mendelsohn tells TVGuide.com. "I didn't expect them to cast me as part of this crew, alongside the other ones. I was definitely honored to have the opportunity. There are a lot of chefs involved that I look up to and I follow their careers. To be standing next to them, was kind of like, 'OK, you made it.'

Those other luminaries include current Food Network and Cooking Channel stars Anne Burrell (Worst Cooks in America),Robert Irvine (Dinner: Impossible),Michael Chiarello (Easy Entertaining With Michael Chiarello),Alex Guarnaschelli (Alex's Day Off),Chuck Hughes (Chuck's Day Off). Adding even more heat to the competition are Top Chef Masters winner Marcus Samuelsson, Chopped competitor Geoffrey Zakarian and past Iron Chef America challengers Elizabeth Falkner and Beau MacMillan.

Mendelsohn might be one of the younger chefs going into battle, but he already has a following, including Michelle Obama who frequents his Washington, DC-based Good Stuff Eatery and We, the Pizza. But even though he's fed the First Lady and survived two Top Chef seasons, there's still one person he finds intimidating when it comes to judging his food. "I think everyone would agree that Anthony Bourdain is like a culinary assassin when it comes to judging people," Mendelsohn admits. "He definitely lets you know what's on his mind and how he feels. He's the harshest judge I've encountered."

Why did you decide to do Next Iron Chef after competing inTop Chef and Iron Chef America? Are you some sort of adrenaline junkie?

Spike Mendelsohn: Some can say I'm an adrenaline junkie. I just think I had so much success with my first go at doing a show that it comes with the territory these days. It relates back to my businesses. It's also something fresh and different all the time for me. It takes me out of my everyday grind, which is dealing with contractors and restaurant employees. It makes it fun for me.

Have you met your competitors before this?

Mendelsohn: I had met a lot of them before at one point in my career. Some I had been just acquainted with, some I had been friends with and some I had just seen through food festivals and things like that. It definitely was surreal standing there . There were a couple of chefs that I personally consider the higher echelon of chefs just standing there in the stadium and just being on the show. It was a moment.

Of them all, whose food want to eat the most?

Mendelsohn: I think I'd like to try Chuck's food because he's a Montreal kid, and I'm from Montreal and I haven't eaten his food before, so I'd like to see what he's doing.

Were there surprises meeting any particular person who wasn't what you expected?

Mendelsohn: Well, as big and bad and muscular as Robert Irvine looks and comes off on television, he's a pretty sweet guy. And Anne Burrell is a lot crazier than she appears. Nah, I'm just kidding!

What is the special thing you can add to the lineup? Is it personality or a particular culinary point of view?

Mendelsohn: I contribute some entertainment, some up-and-coming talent. I'm pretty versatile in several different types of cuisine. So I contribute what I'm about, what I do for a living. Also, I don't have a Food Network show and am not currently in "the family." So maybe I look like I could be a bit of threat because they don't know too much about me.

What can you tell us about the twist, the new format with the elimination challenge?

Mendelsohn: They did away with the old elimination challenge format in which all the competitors were up against each other. Now, what you do first is that you all go at it in some type of initial challenge and then the bottom two have a head-to-head cookoff with a secret ingredient to see who gets kicked off and who stays. So the format is what you'd expect from Iron Chef America's head-to-head battles. ... It just makes it that much more difficult. I kind of love the new format. It's really good. I always enjoy head-to-head battles and I think you're in for some surprises.

Do you find it more nerve-wracking that way?

Mendelsohn: I actually dealt with the pressure a lot better. Let's say you're up for elimination the old way, and there's 10 of you; you just don't know at that point. It makes you very anxious, it's always a guessing game, and your mind is playing tricks on you. At least with the head-to-head battle, you're like, "Ok, it's either this guy or me at the moment and I have to put my heart and soul on a plate and see where it lands. It goes my way, that's great, but if it doesn't, it doesn't." For me it was a lot easier to deal with that kind of pressure.

Was there a secret ingredient that you were looking forward to using the most? Is there a secret ingredient you wouldn't want to get?

Mendelsohn: I love using offal meats, so any type of sweetbreads or something like that would be good. I love cooking with those types of things. I think every chef really does. As far as ingredients that I wouldn't look forward to cooking with would be something weird like stinky tofu or maybe abalone.

What's your take on your humble host, Alton Brown? Is he really that smart?

Mendelsohn: Alton Brown is a genius. I grew up watching him and learning a lot of stuff and food science from watching all his different shows. He's definitely a well-seasoned host and it was great to know him a bit better and to be around him. We had a little chatter behind the scenes here and there, but nothing too in-depth. He has a show to produce and he's a very busy guy.

Michelle Obama is a fan of your cuisine, so she would be the ultimate guest judge. If you had to present a dish to her for judgment, what would it be?

Mendelsohn: If she came in as a guest judge, I would do some soulful dishes, like something really delicious and yummy but very simple, whether it's a roast chicken or steak and potatoes. I kind of know these days what she likes eating so I'd definitely keep it in that realm.

So, no lie: you totally practiced your intimidating Iron Chef America crossed-arm pose, right?

Mendelsohn: (laughs) Yeah, for hours on end at my house in the mirror.

Now here's the really important question: If you were going to stand up there among the old-school Iron Chefs, which vegetable would you be holding?

Mendelsohn: I'd choose to hold a butternut squash.