Comrades-in-arms:  Patrick Orange, the chef/proprietor of Georgetown’s La Chaumière restaurant (at left), joins with Hugh Cossard, the owner of Food Expression, for a wine and Champagne break.  Both Cossard and Orange are members of the FICS board, and are active in preserving and promoting the French culinary art. 

One of the popular dishes provided by Chef Patrick Orange was a timbale corvina ceviche: a thimble cup of diced fish that was marinated for two days in lime and orange juice, prepared with coriander, cilantro, coconut milk, and white balsamic vinegar.  It was topped with a tropical fruit mixture of pineapple, mango, diced apple for crunch and red beans.  Chef Orange also served braised paleron de boeuf (beef shoulder) and brought desserts of lemon and apple-plum tarts.

Florence Devilliers, owner of Lavandou in Washington D.C.’s Cleveland Park neighborhood, served a pâte provençal, prepared with pork, thyme, bay leaf and onions.   Accompanying it was a tomato salad with fresh mangos, prepared with lemon-scented olive oil and basil.  During the evening, Devilliers handed out printed copies of Lavandou’s Bastille menu for French Restaurant Week – several of which were marked with prizes for discounted meals, free bottles of French cider and other goodies.

Food Expressions’ Hugh Cossard displays a plate of traditional summer chipolata pork sausage from Fabrique Délices, which is made with lamb casings and is well suited for summer grilling.  Other Fabrique Délices artisanal charcuterie presented by Cossard included saucisson sec (dry sausage) produced without nitrates or preservatives, merguez sausage, along with duck mousse with port wine, truffle mousse, pâte with black pepper, and a smoked salmon mousse with spinach.

Another product line presented by Cossard’s Food Expressions was all-natural French soft drinks from Rième, a family-run company that has followed the same production methods since 1921.  These 100 percent natural drinks are created with unrefined red beet sugar, and include such French flavors as sparkling traditional lemonade, orange, blood orange, grapefruit and pomegranate – which come from “the world’s perfume capital” of Grasse.

Antoine Songy, the President of Washington, D.C.-based wine importer Robert Kacher Selections, served a variety of wines from his home country of France. Selected specifically for the Summer season due to their lighter taste – and priced in the $10-$20 range – these wines from the south of France included three reds: a 2007 André Brunel Côtes du Rhône, a Mas de Guiot vin de pays du Gard from Sylvia & François Cornut; and a Domaine de Gournier Merlot; along with two whites: a LaLande 2008 Chardonnay and a Domaine du Tariquet Sauvignon – both of which are vin de pays des Côtes de Gascogne.

Chef Patrick Moulet of the Petits Plats restaurant in Washington, D.C., served braised short ribs, which were cooked slowly for four hours and enhanced with a demi-glace red Cabernet wine sauce that included Colombian bittersweet chocolate.  He also prepared a carrot salad that was made with mango, fresh coriander, spring onions scallions, lime juice and French red wine.  Moulet added a cool touch by offering a dessert soup of crushed strawberries, lemon juice, with a touch of Grand Mariner and whipped crème fraîche.

Visiting from France this summer, Nicolas Simon gave a helping hand for Bistrot Lepic’s presence at the RED, WHITE & BRUT! celebration.  The Washington, D.C. restaurant offered a main dish of curry chicken, accompanied by potato purée and rice with sausage.  Simon also served spoon-sized tasters of salmon tartare with seaweed, and red beets with goat cheese.

The FICS’ RED, WHITE & BRUT! event was attended by some of the top French chefs of the nation’s capitol.  Joining in the evening’s activities was Chef Christophe Poteaux of Alexandria, Virginia’s aptly-named Bastille restaurant.  Poteaux serves modern bistro cuisine at Bastille, which he founded in August 2006 with his pastry chef wife, Michelle Garbee.

The evening’s French theme was maintained even for the Saint Geron sparkling water, which was provided by Amaury Schoon of AMI Brands. Sourced from an Auvergne-region mineral spring that traces its origins to Gallo-Roman times, the modern production of this 100 percent natural sparkling water began 1890 – but was suspended due to a lack of means for transportation.  Restarted at the request of chefs in the region, its distribution subsequently was expanded across France after the Industrial Revolution. International exports of Saint Geron began in 1995, arriving in the U.S. beginning last year.