Ingredient of the Week: Beef
This week on Todd Kliman's Washingtonian chat, a reader asked about the difference between Kobe and Wagyu beef, and if they were the same thing. Kliman's response was:

[T]hey are NOT the same. The restaurant industry would like you to think they are the same. A lot of menus are constantly referring to something called "American Kobe." There's a reason it's in quotation marks: There's no such thing.

In most cases, kobe is a scam.

Real kobe — the kind that comes from Japan, from cows that have been treated better than some spa-goers — is prohibitively expensive. You can sample it right now at BLT Steak. It's $130 for five ounces.

Wagyu is tasty, but really nothing close to kobe, which is famed for its exceptional marbling. In essence, its fat content. A slice of real kobe is akin — as my wife once put it — to tallow-flavored butter. Five ounces will make your heart race. Three, four ounces in, you'll feel as if you'd ingested a few uppers or run up a couple of flights of stairs.

We'd like to delve deeper into this issue, because Kliman makes a good point. Many restaurants are misrepresenting the beef on their menus by calling it American Kobe, and charging in accordance.

Kobe is Wagyu beef, but Wagyu is not Kobe. Kobe beef refers to the specific type of Wagyu cattle raised in Hyogo Prefecture. The cattle are treated to the famous massages and diets of sake and beer. This mixture of treatment, as well as a variable climate, makes for happy, delicious, fatty cows. The meat is beautifully marbled with tiny veins of evenly distributed fat, unlike the huge globs o' fat found in other typical beefs.

However, there is such a thing as American Wagyu. Many ranchers have imported Wagyu-breed cows and cross-bred them with Angus cows, often until there is very little Wagyu in the bloodlines. This, in combination with less fancy treatment, shorter lives and a different climate, makes for less happy, fatty cows. Not to mention a lot less delicious with the dreaded globs o' fat.

For the most part, you might as well save the bucks and just go for a prime piece of Angus steak. It's likely to be just as or more delicious than this so-called Kobe beef. Or if you want the real thing you can spring the $130 for the five ounces at BLT Steak.

Photo by jetalone

Small Bites
Save the Cocktail
Proof is hosting a benefit dinner for the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans on May 12 starting at 7 p.m., in conjunction with World Cocktail Week. Tickets are $135, and will get you hors d'oeuvres and passed cocktails, leading up to a five-course tasting menu paired with an additional five cocktails. Participating mixologists include some serious dreamboats: Adam Bernbach of Bar Pilar, Derek Brown of Komi, Tom Brown of Cork, Gina Chersevani of EatBar, Justin Guthrie of Central, John Hogan of Hudson, Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve, Chantal Tseng of Tabard Inn, Rico Wisnor of Poste, and Sebastian Zutant of Proof. Get tickets at Proof in person or by phone.

Food cart alert
A new food cart has popped up on the northwest corner of 15th and M streets. They serve gyros, chicken wraps, gyro salads and baklava. The gyro comes with some ripe looking tomatoes, a dense tzatziki, and sprinkled with feta cheese.

Hardcore gardening
It's not too easy to have a garden in the city. So Ed Bruske of D.C. Urban Gardeners is hosting an event tomorrow at 10 a.m. on how to eke out some greens and veggies with what you've got. More details and RSVP info at the Historical Society of D.C.

More cupcakes
So the big cupcake trend from New York and California is truly making its way into D.C. with the summer opening of Hello Cupcake — joining the ranks of Baked and Wired, Georgetown Cupcake and Cakelove, among others. I'm not a huge cupcake fan, but I am interested in trying the Velvet Elvis — banana cake with peanut butter frosting. If only they could deep fry it...

Columbia Heights — the pun is already in the name
While it may not have a cutesy pie name like Silver Sprung, Columbia Heights is seeing some more culinary inroads. We mentioned the opening of Commonwealth last week. This week it's exciting to note that D'vines has opened, and New Haven-style Pete's Apizza will be opening on Monday. The pics look good, and I wonder if this has the potential to put some smack down on the established contenders. Maybe you can write a pie-ku about it and submit your entry to the Washington Post.

Already a legend
CityZen's Eric Ziebold may be up for a James Beard Award this year, but this post about him on the blog Eggbeater just proves how far out of our league he is, and just how lucky D.C. is to have him.