Thursday, November 19, 2009

Spicy Menus at TenPenh

The Terra Cotta Warriors go up today at the National Geographic Museum, and TenPenh has unveiled a clever new menu promotion — a three-course prix fixe menu showcasing a new spice or herb each week until December 13.

Executive Chef Cliff Wharton will be doing tasting menus at dinner ($38), along with a lunch dish ($18), weekly at the restaurant.

Wharton says he researched ingredients in imperial Chinese cuisine and read everything he could about the Terra Cotta Warriors on the Internet to decide which herbs and spices to use. He decided on Szechuan peppercorns, coriander, saffron, cardamom and cinnamon. This week’s menu focuses on chives, so expect shrimp chive dumplings, smoked salmon-chive pancakes and sesame crusted halibut with chive salad.

Chinese chef Susanna Foo, a two-time James Beard Award Winner, will be in town Saturday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. to teach a Terra Cotta Warriors cooking class at TenPenh ($100). Foo blends traditional Chinese cooking and classical French techniques in dishes like chicken kobocha soup and braised beef short ribs. Call 202-408-0201 for more information.

1 comment:

Ben said...

this is a nice blog behind the curtain of this cool exhibit...