Dish City
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Dish City explores the iconic foods of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia to understand local history and how we live today. Join hosts Patrick Fort and Ruth Tam as they learn the origins of Old Bay in Maryland, explore the roots of Vietnamese cuisine in Virginia, and investigate whether D.C.'s bottomless brunch is actually a good deal. From WAMU.
© 2019 WAMU
Dish City explores the iconic foods of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia to understand local history and how we live today. Join hosts Patrick Fort and Ruth Tam as they learn the origins of Old Bay in Maryland, explore the roots of Vietnamese cuisine in Virginia, and investigate whether D.C.'s bottomless brunch is actually a good deal. From WAMU.
© 2019 WAMU
Despite Maryland's obsession with Old Bay, it's not the state's most popular seasoning for steamed crabs.
The only meal D.C. loves more than a power lunch is a bottomless, boozy brunch. But the meal has equally impassioned critics as well as fans.
Crispy, golden, and delicious, D.C.'s fried fish is a soul food classic – but it's also endangered.
Before Eden Center in Falls Church, there was Little Saigon in Clarendon.
Delicious, but tedious to make, stuffed ham can only be found in one small corner of Maryland.
How D.C.'s Chinatown became known for everything but Chinese culture.
Ruth and Patrick learn how Maryland's iconic crustaceans get from the boat to your throat.
Why are there so many Asian-owned carryouts in D.C.'s Black neighborhoods?
After covering the pandemic’s effect on food delivery, we're dining out again.
There are problems with food delivery. Theres the reliance on gig laborers who say they are underpaid. Restaurants have to pay high commission fees on top of most orders. And delivery companies wind up operating on threadbare margins and still havent tur
Quick sign up! Flexible hours! Be your own boss!
The perks of gig work are well-known, but do they actually reflect the reality of drivers working for food delivery apps? Patrick and Ruth try driving for DoorDash to find out. Plus, they interview three
DoorDash started a decade after its competitors, but now controls half of the food delivery market in the U.S. What can we learn from the very first order its founders delivered? And how did all these third-party platforms reshape the way we think of foo
In the 60s, delivering pizzas meant wrapping hot pies in a blanket or driving them to customers over open flames. With those humble (and, uh, life-threatening) beginnings, how did we get to the quick and easy delivery everyone knows and loves today? From
On a cold November night in 1976, a New York City restaurateur named Misa Chang started sliding delivery menus under her neighbors’ doors for her Chinese restaurant in Manhattan. Chang wasn’t the first to offer delivery, but when delivery gained traction
When you really think about it, delivering food from restaurants to homes is kind of strange. Nothing about the process saves money and it doesnt make the food taste any better! And yet, platforms like DoorDash and Grubhub doubled their revenue during th
On a new season of Dish City, hosts Patrick Fort and Ruth Tam discover how food delivery became normal in America and ponder if it actually benefits restaurants, couriers and diners during the pandemic.
Most people who contract coronavirus recover, but we still dont know much about the lingering side effects – including the loss of taste and smell. Patrick talks with a local foodie who survived the virus but hasnt fully regained his ability to taste and
As Game of Thrones nerds can tell you, winter is coming is more than a seasonal weather forecast –its a warning. With that in mind, what are local restaurants with outdoor dining doing to prepare for the harshest season? And, given the limits in federal
What does the future hold for restaurants? To predict what a restaurant in 2022 will look like, Patrick and Ruth time travel to see what lessons we can learn from previous pandemics.
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Now that fall is here, Patrick is enjoying his cozy flannel shirts and crisp pumpkin beers. But for Ruth, entering this season is bittersweet. Cultural holidays like the Mid-Autumn Festival are normally comforting this time of year. But for Asians who ob
As bars and restaurants in the Washington region continue to reopen, diners are flocking back looking for a sense of normalcy. For Patrick, the decision to dine out is a lot more complicated than it was pre-pandemic. In his attempt to find a safe way to
When Eighteenth Street Lounge closed permanently in June 2020, Washingtonians mourned the end of an era. Ruth and Patrick look back on the nightclubs 25-year legacy, its mark on the underground music scene and the ways D.C.s nightlife scene has changed s
Rent is due in a week! And restaurants are still struggling to make it through the pandemic. If they don’t renegotiate their leases, restaurants and bars won’t survive. But, landlords are hurting too. Patrick and Ruth continue their exploration of negoti
Even before the pandemic, restaurants struggled to pay rent. And now, whether theyre starting to re-open, only doing takeout or remaining closed...they still owe rent! Patrick and Ruth take a look at one restaurants challenges, and their attempt to negot
Following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, D.C. has been gripped in protest for five days straight. As demonstrations intensify, local food businesses downtown have been broken into and burned.
This isnt the first time Washingtonians h
No surprises to anyone listening: Dish City has had to pivot. But, its nothing compared to what local restaurant owners and workers are dealing with. On week 11 of working from home, Patrick and Ruth turn to the owners of Compass Coffee and Hanks Oyster
Before the pandemic, getting takeout or going to the grocery store didnt seem too complicated. Now, the coronavirus is revealing new challenges, as well as old vulnerabilities. With the help of restaurant owners, grocery workers and small farmers, Patric
Stopping by the corner store for an extra onion or a last-minute bottle of wine is just not going to cut it anymore. Many of us are quarantined or sheltering-in-place with fewer food options. So, how are Patrick and Ruth making the most with what they ha
Ruth and Patrick are setting aside their original plans for Dish City Season 2. For the foreseeable future, Dish City will cover the coronavirus pandemics affect on the D.C. areas local food systems. Heres a sneak peek of what you can expect every other
Surprise! Its a special Thanksgiving episode of Dish City.
Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays with a set dinner menu. Despite the obvious dishes, families and friends all over D.C. put their own spin on tradition every year. Patrick and Ruth inte
From high-powered creatives and business executives in New York, to lawyers and politicians in D.C., the power lunch has long been a staple for the wealthy and powerful. And the classic steakhouse has always been the quintessential setting for these meal
D.C. has historically been part of the American South. But as D.C.s population has grown and diversified, its obvious ties to the South are starting to fade. Patrick and Ruth dine at the Florida Avenue Grill and Succotash, and take a detour through local
The pupusa is one of the most recognizable dishes in El Salvador and one of the most delicious street foods in the world. Its loved locally and yet restaurants that serve and celebrate just Salvadoran food seem underrepresented in the District. Ruth and
Washingtonians have been pouring blood red, sticky-sweet mumbo sauce over chicken wings and fries for decades. Thats why, when the D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said it annoyed her and hadnt heard of the sauce until she was an adult, she caused an uproar. Wha
Jumbo slice is divisive. A single, floppy slice is longer than most diners forearms. While its a favorite among late night partiers, especially in Adams Morgan, its often derided as drunk food and has historically been blamed for all the fights and litte
Ethiopian cuisine is a D.C. mainstay, so when Ruth and Patrick taste fast-casual Ethiopian at Union Market, they have questions. What does it mean when a chef tries to put a new spin on dishes that are thousands of years old? We visit a family restaurant
The half-smoke is the first food that comes to mind when we think about D.C.s iconic foods. But when Ruth and Patrick take a trip to Bens Chili Bowl, which made the half-smoke famous, Ruth orders a hot dog by mistake and realizes she doesnt really know w
A new podcast from WAMU asks what we can learn about Washington, D.C. through its iconic foods. Hosts Patrick Fort and Ruth Tam trek around the city and meet the people eating, making, and fighting for the citys staples. New episodes on Thursdays startin
The Old Bay Obsession
May 26, 202231min 24sec
Old Bay is everywhere in the Chesapeake Bay region. It’s on chips, popcorn, ice cream, beer, and even chocolate. You can even find the brand tattooed on people’s bodies. But, most importantly, it’s associated with the state’s favorite food: blue crabs. Ruth and Patrick dive into Old Bay’s origin story, why people love it, and whether Old Bay is actually on your crabs.
We’ll be at the Silver Spring farmer's market in Maryland on Saturday, May 28, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Come hang out!
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