For the Exploring Comfort Food miniseries, 蜜桃视频app interviewed D.C.-area chefs on their favorite comfort foods, and how the tastes and smells from life experiences influence the way they cook and eat today.
[Part 1: A chef鈥檚 connection to Cuban, Cajun and frozen Oreos]
[Part 2: At Maydan, comfort extends beyond the cooking]
Daniela Moreira still remembers the hunger and frustration she felt walking 20 blocks home nearly every afternoon. The school she attended in Argentina didn鈥檛 serve lunch, so most students returned home for the midday meal.
鈥淚 would be cranky all day because I hated school, but once I opened the door to my house and smelled the frying of milanesas, that was heaven. It鈥檚 the thing I miss most of my mom鈥檚 cooking,鈥� Moreira said about the breaded and fried chicken dish her mother made often.
鈥淭hen just coming to her, hugging her and smelling garlic on her hands. That smell just reminds me of her.鈥�
Food played a prominent role in Moreira鈥檚 upbringing. Her mother and grandmother 鈥� who Moreira said made 鈥渢he best lasagna I ever had鈥� 鈥� ran a restaurant on the campground that her parents owned and operated in the central province of Cordoba. Moreira and her siblings were recruited to pitch in, and cooking became a chore.
鈥淪o when all the kids were playing in the river, I had to be helping out. This was in the middle of the summer, afternoons; it was a pain. So no, I did not like cooking,鈥� Moreira said.
She also didn鈥檛 love school, so when it came time to start thinking about college, Moreira proposed culinary school, instead. Only then did she realize her talent in the kitchen, and the more she studied food, the more she grew to love it.
Today, Moreira is the executive chef behind Timber Pizza and Call Your Mother 鈥� two D.C. restaurants that have received national recognition. Both establishments include a few nods to Moreira鈥檚 Argentine roots, like the empanadas at Timber and the alfajores at Call Your Mother.
But the menus really hone in on the childhood comfort foods of her business partner and boyfriend, Andrew Dana, a Northwest D.C. native.
鈥淚鈥檝e always had strong emotions toward warm carbohydrates,鈥� said Dana, who left a job in marketing to open Timber Pizza in D.C.鈥檚 Petworth neighborhood in 2016.
The idea to leave his 9-to-5 to start a restaurant came from Dana鈥檚 father, a successful D.C. lawyer who made weekend bagel runs a family tradition and who frequently told his kids, 鈥淚 should have opened a deli.鈥�
鈥淵ou know, most kids want to be like their dad, so I stole that tagline and said 鈥榩izza place鈥� 鈥� And it started as a sort of a joke, I think. It was, 鈥極h, I鈥檓 going to go into marketing, but I really want to open a pizza restaurant.鈥� And just the more I hated my job, the more I thought that would be fun,鈥� Dana said.
In 2017, Bon App茅tit named Timber Pizza 鈥溾�� for its fresh, farmers-market take on wood-fired pies. In 2018, Dana and Moreira went on to open their second concept, Call Your Mother, a Jewish-style deli with bagel sandwiches and creative takes on classic lunch fare, like a pastrami-style cheesesteak, pastrami fried rice and Jewish tacos (brisket, pastrami, cheese, jalape帽os, cilantro, onion and lime on a corn tortilla).
鈥淲e just put stuff on the menu that we really dig, and [stuff that] we鈥檙e eating,鈥� said Dana, who also opened a by-the-slice pizza outpost with Moreira earlier this year in Arlington, Virginia鈥檚 Ballston Quarter Market.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 sort of the extent of it. I wish I could say there was some like board room with a white board where we鈥檙e drawing out why a taco makes sense on the menu, but truly at its core, we make stuff that we like.鈥�
As bold and bread-heavy as their food is at work, Dana and Moreira like to keep the food scene light and simple at home, by throwing something on the grill or ordering takeout. (Brownie sundaes also make a frequent appearance around the house.) Simple, however, does not mean meals are overlooked.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of how we unwind at the end of the day. So comfort food really is at the core of everything we do,鈥� Dana said.
鈥淚 think the vision of a warm piece of naan wrapped around some butter chicken at the end of the day is what keeps us together sometimes.鈥�
