<ro>Indigo Chef Lands New Gig
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He brought foie gras hush puppies to Alexandria. Now, Bryan Moscatello will be challenged with bringing the same kind of innovation to one of the most prestigious restaurant groups in the area.
Dan Mesches, president of Star Restaurant Group, LLC announced last Friday the promotion of Bryan Moscatello to executive chef of Star Restaurant Group. Chef Moscatello will oversee both Zola and Spy City Café at the International Spy Museum in popular Penn Quarter. He will also serve as the executive chef at Indigo Landing, where he has been spearheading the kitchen since his move to Washington in late winter of 2005.
Zola will be Moscatello's focus, as that D.C. restaurant's menu will be expanded. It's more straightfoward "American fare" than the low-country cuisine the chef has perfected at Indigo Landing.
Born in New Jersey, Moscatello spent his youth on the shore crabbing, clamming and selling his daily catch to area chefs. These formative years have proven to be very helpful, as Moscatello launched into his new post as the executive chef of Indigo Landing in April 2006. In preparation, he spent much of his time in Charleston, SC, dining throughout the low country exploring the local cuisine and southern produce, and working in the kitchens at renowned restaurants such as the Peninsula Grill, Fleet Landing, Boulevard Diner and Hank’s Seafood.
Moscatello lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Jaime.
<ro>Orphans Abandoned?
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The annual Orphans In Alexandria Car Meet brings together loyal fans of classic cars whose manufacturers have since gone out of business — cars like Kaisers, Studebakers and Hudsons.
Although the city's Funside.com Web site lists the Orphans show for May 12, the Office for Historic Alexandria said that there will not be an Orphans In Alexandria Car Meet this year.
Last year, James Mackay, the director of The Lyceum, said that the show hadn't been getting a strong response from collectors. "If I don’t start to get a better response from the collectors though I may have to make the show more generic. If it were just an antique car show, without the requirement of models that were once sold here, I would have more than enough," he said in 2006.