TVGasm Investigates: Brunch at Top Chef Restaurants

Watercooler

By vallegirl | Saturday, January 12, 2013 | 1:10 pm | 11 Comments
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Posted in: TVgasm Investigates, Watercooler

So if you’re local to LA, or planning to visit, I highly recommend Street. It’s relaxed and casual enough for regulars but an “experience” for out-of-towners. And it’s surprisingly affordable. Three entrées and two cocktails plus tip ran us about $70.

Volt

I’ll out myself and admit…I wasn’t the biggest Kevin “Dirty Bear” Gillespie fan in Season Six. (Still the best, EVER!) Bryan “Big Volt” Voltaggio was my pony, if only because he was constantly making Li’l Volt whine things like “Don’t be a dick, Bryan,” while wrapping his already sealed “Glad Family of Products” container in roughly 3,842 yards of plastic wrap, solely to piss off his brother. That and Bryan seemed an earnest, thoughtful chef.

So when my family recently moved to the thriving metropolis of Spotsylvania, VA, I demanded that we make the two-hour drive to Volt. After all, it’s one of the TC meccas: the little restaurant that could after it got a huge boost from being mentioned on a really popular show for 12 weeks. And, well, Bryan doesn’t disappoint.

First, though, the neighborhood. Yes, I know the Voltaggios are from Frederick, MD and he wanted to be located near the local farming community, but if your goal is to open a posh restaurant, you may want to choose your neighbors a little more carefully:

I kid. (Not really.) Frederick is a quaint, 19th century city and the downtown area is a hipster paradise with its red brick townhouses and artisanal shops, but I don’t know if a smoke shop that advertises “Hippie gifts and tobacco” really jibes with haute cuisine.

But whatever, Volt itself is gorgeous. Occupying the main floor of the Houck Mansion, it’s very warm and inviting (especially since the lounge is right off the main entrance) but does have a slightly formal feel to it. And the hostesses were clearly not of the LA variety. They were very friendly and chatty and helpful and even grabbed my phone out of my coat pocket when I told them I was planning on being the asshole fangirl/tourist and wanted to take pictures.

As we had the earliest reservations for brunch (they seriously book quickly so plan ahead) we briefly waited in the lounge where I, once again, had a delicious cocktail – this time a more traditional Negroni, which they still managed to look swank by serving it in a champagne glass. It was almost too pretty to drink, except brunch always tastes better when you’re a sheet and a half to the wind.

Not my actual Negroni but…PRETTY!

But we weren’t in the lounge long. Once in the dining room we were set upon by the bread server. Yes, there’s a friendly young man walking around the dining room with a basket of breads and you get to choose which delicious bread, roll or biscuit you want. I went with the vanilla roll, but the cheesy biscuit looked damn good. The bread server came around several times, each time with a new type of bread, including a cinnamon bun that looked like it was wearing a hat. I don’t know. I was two sheets to the wind and it amused me.

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vallegirl
About

Vallegirl has never actually lived in a valley, has a lot of time on her hands and likes to yell at kids about how things were in her day.  Currently in LA, she's also spent a lot of time in the great states of  New York and Florida so she's not crazy, it's just a cultural thing.

11 Comments

  1. 1
    Parisi LaRoe Parisi LaRoe
    Posted January 12, 2013 at 2:27 pm

    I want to go to Bitter Jen’s restaurant (if it ever opens) but I am so jealous you got to go to Volt. I have been dying to go.

    A real amuse bouche? I thought those were rare, like unicorns!

  2. 2
    zerocool
    Posted January 12, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    Super jealous!! Brian was my favorite that season – he was robbed of the title!

  3. 3
    TVKimmy TVKimmy
    Posted January 12, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    Color me 50 shades of jealous! That is awesome. :D I loved me some B-Volt, so I’m pleased it was so great.

  4. 4
    chaosbutterfly
    Posted January 12, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    Jealouss….I’ve been wanting to go to Volt, but I’m scared because I have no class and don’t want to get thrown out.

    Plus it’s hard to convince my friends to grab a zipcar and go all the way out to Fredricksburg, only to pay $35 for a brunch that isn’t bottomless or all you can eat. Even I shudder at the prospect, although everyone says the food is incredible.
    Drunken gluttonous philistines, the lot of us.

  5. 5
    2muchbravo
    Posted January 12, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    Where do you live Chaos? Frederick’s an hour from me. We ought to have an East Coast ‘Gasm TC restaurant tour. Doesn’t Isabella have a place in DC? Not that I want to give that douche my hard earned cash.

    I had an amuse bouche in NYC in December. Went up there to meet a friend for the weekend and we went to a Swedish restaurant that we frequent. Thanks to TC I realized it was an amuse bouche when they served it to us.

    I’m going out to the LA area in May. Perhaps I’ll make it to Street.

  6. 6
    carol
    Posted January 12, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    Some of my professional friends (ie friends from the work) have been on Top Chef. One of them even won. I hate to say it, but some of them can really cook and are amazing. But others have a great PR team/agent and that is how they got on the show (they don’t have that much skill in the kitchen but they have a personality that works on tv). Some of friends I knew before they went on tv and some I met after. It is interesting to see how different people react to the 15 minutes of fame. Some try and change into a TV chef, others use it to start a business or try and launch a cookbook, others just use it draw in patrons.

    Generally the contestants on Top Chef Masters are going to be better than regular Top Chef simply because they are more established in the food world.

  7. 7
    chaosbutterfly
    Posted January 12, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    I live in DC, so also about an hour away by car.
    By public transportation (my primary method of getting around) it’s almost 4 hours. x_x

    Isabella does have a place here, Graffiato.
    Again, I’ve never been, but it’s on the list. He is a giant douche, but not to the point where I won’t let him feed me, especially when there really are not that many places in DC where you can get delicious and affordable food. Beggars can’t be choosers.

    A foodie tour with the gasmii would be too much fun.

    @carol, which of your friends won?

  8. 8
    lindaw205
    Posted January 13, 2013 at 6:35 am

    I’m so jealous that you went to Volt! When I lived in VA we kept saying we were going to go there but we never did. Now I’m really sorry we didn’t go. I liked B Volt his season and hoped he would win.

    I doubt I’ll ever get to LA but the food sounds great at Chiclet Teeths place. Again, SO JEALOUS!

  9. 9
    Glitterous
    Posted January 13, 2013 at 10:37 am

    Good Stuff Eatery (Spike’s Dog-and-Pony Show) actually makes some damn fine food. Their village fries with dipping mayos are awesome and their burgers are about the best I’ve ever had. I’ve eaten at 10 different Top Chef restaurants and can say that Spike’s is the third-best (behind Girl and the Goat and Hubert Keller’s Vegas restaurant.)

    Oh, and Blaise, who talks shit like his mouth and his butt were accidentally reversed at some point, has a burger joint in Atlanta that is DEFINITELY not as good as Spike’s. So yeah, Blaise, take that.

  10. 10
    crankyguy crankyguy
    Posted January 13, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    Why is there a cartoon drawing of a penis pointing down on that chalkboard Street menu? Weird.

  11. 11
    chaosbutterfly
    Posted January 13, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    Good Stuff Eatery is delicious.
    Bonus: It won’t make you poor.

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