Eddie's Blog

Loving What You Do

eddieishaq — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:52:43 +0000

Who can say they enjoy what they do for a living? I feel lucky to say I can! Whether it’s being on the line during the Saturday night rush or creating a custom menu for a wine or specialty cocktail dinner – I still feel passionate about what I’m doing.

Just this week I was able to work with a private event that wanted to do a beer pairing with our mini appetizers. They were great to work with and allowed me to be creative with micro brews like DC’s very own DC Brau Citizen and 21^st Amendment’s Hell or High Watermelon from San Francisco. Together we created a new and exciting personalized menu that really impressed all of the guests. Items included our 8 Spiced Seared Tuna, Mini Lobster and Shrimp Rolls and Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas to name a few. To liven it up a bit, we even challenged their taste buds with a tasting game to prove their beer expertise.

There’s really never a dull moment in my kitchen. So until next time – stay hungry my friends.

Helping our community

eddieishaq — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:41:25 +0000

As you may know, we have a long standing partnership with Food for Others. Food for Others has been serving Fairfax County and its surrounding areas since 1995 and we have been overjoyed to help them in their efforts of keeping our community fed. We have hosted many kids cooking classes with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Food for Others and every year at Thanksgiving, we also send them a portion of our sales from that day as well as run a food drive to help keep their shelves stocked.

I wanted to reach out to you with my next project for them. I would like to send Food for Others recipes to include in the food boxes that are distributed to their clients. These would be really easy recipes using some of the items that are regularly included in their weekly deliveries along with items that can be commonly found on a pantry shelf. Here are a few ingredients to get started with:

Collard greens
Turnips
Bread
Canned black beans

Do you have any easy and tasty recipes you can share using the above items? Please post them here and help us help our community.

Until next time.

Super Bowl!

eddieishaq — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:47:25 +0000

We are getting geared up for the big game on Sunday! Yes, we are in Redskins territory and would root for them if they were playing but I am still pumped that our neighbors to the north will be playing. That being said, we are highlighting a few dishes on our specials this week in honor of the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. Did you know that San Francisco boasts serving the first Crab Louis back in 1904! Check out our version with fresh lump crab meat, grape tomatoes and red onions all mixed together in traditional Thousand Island Dressing and lemon juice served on top of a bed of bibb lettuce and topped with avocado.

We are also featuring a Crab Cake Melt in honor of Baltimore made with our popular lump crab cakes. If you like crab, this is your week at Wildfire.

I was also playing around with some recipes yesterday for our Super Bowl Buffet we are hosting on Sunday. Check out the truffled popcorn I whipped up.

We will have some other football-fan-favorites on the menu like Steakhouse Chili, Bacon Cheddar Burger Sliders, Buffalo Chicken Sliders and Cottage Fries with Ranch Dipping Sauce just to name a few. Plus, the menu comes with our house wine and beer for the duration of game. Let me know if you want to come to the party and I would be happy to help make the reservation for you. Or, just call the restaurant and tell them Chef Eddie sent you.

Until Sunday – stay hungry my friends.

Simply Bubbly Sparkling Wine Dinner

eddieishaq — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:51:07 +0000

Here are a few photos from the event last night. I have to say, it was one of my favorite menus to date.

roasted duck breast, english pea puree, honey glazed pearl onion with madeira sauce

day boat scallop, sauteed fennel and pancetta, champagne beurre blanc

vanilla and white wine poached pear with orange essence, stuffed with vanilla ice cream served with creme anglaise.

Until next time, stay hungry my friends.

Happy birthday to us!

eddieishaq — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:25:17 +0000

We are celebrating our 5^th birthday here at Wildfire Tysons. It is hard to believe that just 5 years ago we were just opening up this location – and now look at us – busy as we have ever been!

We have some fun things planned this week. We kicked off the week on Sunday with a three piece band in the mall and handed out some cupcakes to celebrate. All week we are giving trivia questions to tables that are based around our opening date in 2007 and all things Virginia. Plus, instead of receiving birthday gifts, we are handing out about 50 gifts a day to some lucky guests. Then, at the end of the week, we will have a big drawing for the grand prize which includes a few great items – one of them being a signed football from NFC East Division Champion Washington Redskins!

And last but not least, we have our Simply Bubbly Sparkling Wine coming up tonight which features four courses, each paired with a different sparkling wine. Nothing says “Happy Birthday” like a little bubbly.

Until next time – stay hungry my friends.

Potato Crusted Sea Scallops – you had me at potato crusted

eddieishaq — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:39:56 +0000

As promised here is installment #1 of my new favorite menu items. If I had to choose, I would have to say that the Potato-Crusted Sea Scallops is one of my new top three items on the menu. These aren’t your typical scallops – they are cooked in our wood burning oven. Yeah, they have a butter sauce but it isn’t your typical sauce, it is a creamy chipotle butter sauce that is really tasty and adds a little kick that makes the flavors more complex. I also really love the crunch of the potato chips on the seared scallop. The combination of the hint of salt and crunch lends itself well to the rich scallop. Can you think of anything better?

I will leave you with that tasty morsel and until next time – stay hungry my friends.

Happy Holidays!

eddieishaq — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 19:50:55 +0000

No matter what you celebrate, I just want to say a very happy holiday season from me and the rest of the team here at Wildfire. We have a brand new menu that just rolled out at the beginning of December so that is even more reason to come out and get in the holiday spirit. We have some new favorites on the menu which I will take some time to talk about in the coming weeks and we have also updated some of our classic dishes which are already getting rave reviews from our regulars. Make a plan to come out and visit us and ring in the holidays and New Year Wildfire Style.

Stay hungry my friends.

Thanksgiving at Wildfire

eddieishaq — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:54:57 +0000

Thanksgiving is right around the corner so I wanted to invite you all one last time to Thanksgiving here at Wildfire. Don’t forget to call and make a reservation or shoot me a note here and I would be happy to help you out. You will get to have all of your favorites, Wildfire style and also contribute to one of my avorite local charities, Food For Others as a part of our proceeds that day will be donated.

Just to get a little taste of what you are in for, take a look at my segment on Fox 5 from yesterday and learn how to make our delicious Deviled Eggs!

Until Thanksgiving, stay hungry my friends.

23 days and counting…

eddieishaq — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:02:40 +0000

It is really hard to believe but we are counting down the days until Thanksgiving and the holiday season (23 days and counting). We are expecting to feed 1,300 people this year and we love that people are starting to make Wildfire a yearly tradition. Just like year’s past, we will be donating a portion of the day’s proceeds to Food For Others, and will also be hosting a food drive. To me, holidays are all about giving back, and food is always the best way in my eyes. This year’s menu has all of your favorites on it again – roasted brussel sprouts with toasted hazelnuts and brown butter (recently featured on WUSA Channel 9 today with JC Hayward), sweet potato casserole with toasted marshmallows, our flavorful mushroom herb stuffing and gravy. And of course the staple of Thanksgiving after all – fresh turkeys spit roasted in our wood burning oven, from Bay Haven Farm – we just placed our 750 pound order. It is shaping up to be another delicious Thanksgiving.

Make sure you call soon to make your reservation before we book up. Or, you can leave me a note here and I can make a reservation for you. Nothing like saying the Executive Chef made your Thanksgiving Day reservations – now that’s something to brag about early, since you will soon be bragging to others how you didn’t have to mess up your own kitchen this Thanksgiving and had the best meal to date!

Until then, stay hungry my friends.

Brunch with JC Hayward

eddieishaq — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:40:56 +0000

I was just on WUSA channel 9 yesterday with JC Hayward talking about our new weekend brunch menu. I had the opportunity to actually demo our Monte Cristo Sandwich which is one of my favorite things to have for brunch. It is the perfect combination of savory and sweet, which is what I always have trouble deciding between. Ham, turkey and swiss cheese is sandwiched between two pieces of french toast – pretty genius if you ask me!

Check out the video and the recipe here

We also have other great new additions to our weekend brunch menu including Candied Bacon Pancakes (you heard right), which is topped with an over easy egg (yes, you heard right again!) and back by popular demand, our turkey sausage breakfast burrito loaded with scrambled eggs, jalapeno jack cheese, guacamole, and pico de gallo. You should definitely come in and check it out. Until then, stay hungry my friends.