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Vermilion

Friday, January 18, 2013

Vermilion Gets a New Chef

Springfield, Va. native William Morris is taking over for Tony Chittum, whose last day at Vermilion is Valentine's Day.

William Morris will become top chef at Old Town’s Vermilion. Morris replaces Tony Chittum who is leaving to reopen the Iron Gate Inn in Dupont Circle, reports Tom Sietsma in the Washington Post’s Going Out Guide. Morris, a Springfield, Va., native, previously worked at San Francisco’s Michael Mina and Brasserie Beck in Washington, DC. He also worked as executive sous chef at Bourbon Steak in Georgetown. Morris told Sietsma that he wants to continue what Chittum started and “progress from there.” Morris also has been helping out at Old Town’s Columbia Firehouse Restaurant, which, like Vermilion, is owned by the Neighborhood Restaurant Group. Chittum’s last day at Vermilion will be Valentine’s Day. President Obama and the first lady chose to…

Amaryllis

10:03 am on Friday, January 18, 2013

Hope the menu improves. I stopped going there years ago, probably around the time that Tony Chittum became chef.   more ›

Monday, December 31, 2012

Old Town Restaurants Celebrate Truffle Season

Winter truffle season began Dec. 14 and chefs at the Majestic, Vermilion and Bastille are putting their skills to good use.

Three Old Town restaurants got a shout out from Northern Virginia magazine for celebrating truffle season. The Majestic and Vermilion on King Street and Bastille on North Royal Street are offering tasty dishes celebrating the winter truffle season, which began Dec. 14, according to the article “14 NoVA Restaurants Celebrate the Winter Truffle Season.” The Majestic is offering seared scallops for dinner with celery root puree, sauteed spinach, mushrooms and black truffle sauce. Vermilion is serving Maryland all-natural beef on the dinner menu with baked crespelle, hen of the woods mushrooms, swiss chard and truffle jus. Bastille is serving on its regular dinner menu roasted duck leg confit with roasted fall vegetables and a red wine sauce …

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

More Pop-up Restaurants in Del Ray?

According to a Northern Virginia Magazine report, the Neighborhood Restaurant Group is considering sprucing up the former Barkley Square patio for a rotating lineup of pop-up restaurants.

Neighborhood Restaurant Group owner Michael Babin is considering hosting month-long pop-up restaurants featuring NRG chefs in the patio space in front of the former Barkley Square building, according to Northern Virginia Magazine. Babin is considering building a utility kitchen “in a small building in the back of the patio” and filling the patio with picnic tables and covering them with a retractable awning, according to the report published Wednesday on the magazine’s Gut Check blog. No word if the “small building” is the Barkley Square space. Babin purchased several of the buildings in the 2000 block of Mt. Vernon Avenue last year, including those that held his Evening Star Cafe and Planet Wine as well as the Barkley Square building and …

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Obamas Celebrate Valentine's Day at Vermilion

President and first lady dine at the Neighborhood Group Restaurant in Old Town.

It's no secret that the Obamas love Northern Virginia as apparent by the president and first lady's multiple trips to the area and Tuesday night they shared their love for each other at Old Town Alexandria's Vermilion restaurant on King St., reports The Huffington Post. Vermilion on Tuesday evening declined to confirm to Patch the White House Pool report disclosing the Obamas' Old Town destination, but the presidential motorcade and multiple black SUVs crawling through the neighborhood gave it away. Fellow diners also spread the news via Twitter. A couple who said they sat next to the Obamas during dinner called into 94.7 Fresh FM and said the Obamas discussed Social Security, among other things. The first lady ordered red wine and the …

Brian McKinny

6:18 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012

I agree with Karen - it qa impolite of patrons to tweet and eavesdrop on the president and first lady's conversation. If the locals in Alexandria can't contain themselves, the president might stop coming! I suggest we leave them to themselves so they can enjoy being normal (as normal as is possible for the POTUS.) people on an evening out. And I want to add that Vermillion is a great restaurant …   more ›

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Three Old Town Spots Make Sietsema's Fall List

Washington Post Runs Fall Dining Guide this weekend

Three Old Town restaurants got a rating of “regular-worthy” on Tom Sietsema’s Fall Dining Guide. The Washington Post is running the dining guide from restaurant critic Sietsema in the magazine this weekend. The three restaurants (and Sietsema’s comments) are: Restaurant Eve’s Tasting Room: (President and Mrs. Obama celebrated their anniversary at Restaurant Eve earlier this month.) “The chef constantly pushes himself to please.” Vermilion: “The restaurant makes every meal special.” Virtue Feed & Grain: “Among the virtues at Virtue are cocktails made with beer…”. (See Patch's "Eat Local" review here.)

Monday, September 5, 2011

Eat Local: Vermilion

A restaurant with a passion for its locally sourced, seasonal menu.

Vermilion is an exceptional Old Town establishment that takes great pride in sourcing its ingredients locally or, when necessary, regionally. Open since 2003, Vermilion has been nominated for several awards and recently won the 2010 RAMW Rammy Award for Best Upscale, Casual Restaurant of the Year. Located at 1120 King Street, the restaurant has been accurately described as regional, farm driven modern American cuisine with Greek and Italian influences.  Executive Chef Anthony Chittum ("Chef Tony") explains that the food he creates is largely the product of three main influences: 1) his childhood years spent on Kent Island, Md., where he enjoyed and acquired a taste for fresh, local and seasonal foods, 2) the knowledge and styles of two …

bill

2:12 pm on Monday, September 5, 2011

Vermillion used to be a very nice, comfortable restaurant with a reliable menu. It has changed to be so "upscale" that we no longer see things on the menu that we like, and the prices have skyrocketed. We've gone from monthly meals there to going elsewhere -- unfortunately, much of Old Town has experienced the same "upscaling", so we are going farther for dinner these days.   more ›

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