Dish of the Week: Curry laksa Where: Spices/Nooshi, Malaysia Kopitiam The first time I tasted curry laksa, it was prepared by a Singaporean friend, who I watched cleave piles of dark meat into an enormous stew pot before putting in a number of different spices. What came out was a questionable, murky soup with spicy red oil floating on top. But wow, was it delicious. Curry laksa is one of those beautiful fusion children of…

I was a bit uncertain as I walked down Calvert St. toward Open City. I was looking for New Heights, and what I saw was a slightly shabby awning on a narrow storefront. This, I thought, is nothing like Firefly. But I’d been tipped off. I was there to see a man named John Wabeck about some soft shell crabs. A few months ago, Wabeck left the kitchen at Firefly to escape conference calls and…

Wabeck Leaving Firefly, Chittum Leaving Dish and Notti Bianche Tom reports in this week’s Dish that John Wabeck, executive chef of Firefly just south of Dupont Circle, is departing at the end of the month. Wabeck has been plating up fantastic dishes for years at Firefly, which is why it ranks as one of my favorite places. Now he’s decided that he might want to pursue, according to Tom, either “the wine thing,” or “the…

D.C. Battles It Out In The Kitchen One of Washington’s best food events, the Capital Food Fight, is a little over a week away, and I expect there is wanton smack-talking between the competition’s 10 food-fighters. Bebo’s Roberto Donna, Mie n Yu’s Tim Elliot, Kinkead’s Bob Kinkead, last year’s winner Ris Lacoste, Jamie Leeds of Hank’s Oyster Bar, Taberna del Alabardero’s Santi Zabaleta, John Wabeck of Firefly, IndeBleu’s Vikram Garg, Anthony Chittum from Notti Bianche,…