Eating Around: Glamour Grub at 'Source'

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WITH AN ASSEMBLAGE of line cooks on his right and a view of Pennsylvania Avenue on his left, Scott Drewno has the attention of the kitchen.

Then again, at 6 feet 7 inches tall in chef's clogs, he's an attention magnet — and as the executive chef of Wolfgang Puck's the Source, Drewno is the man with the plans for this newly opened D.C. showcase restaurant, adjacent to the under-construction Newseum set to open in 2008.

Drewno asked one of seven cooks to fetch trays for us. One is the "before": a display of a suckling pig pressed with a 10-spice rub. The beast stands for a day to allow the flavors to absorb, then a chef roasts the pig in a layer of duck fat for a couple of hours. The "after"? Bite-size squares of tender, peppery pork, underscored by a crispy layer from the duck fat, with the hint of sweet from cipollini onion, micro-arugula and a plum fig puree. For cuisinerds with a case of pork love, this appetizer is required eating.

In the lounge on the ground level, past the sexy bar, resides the wood-burning oven bedecked with white tile. Manning the 518-degree pizza oven is Russ Simon, former pizza chef at Spago Beverly Hills, the pioneering Puck restaurant that helped to shepherd in the current gourmet pizza craze and helped make Puck the celebrity chef of the '80s. To its left sits a charcoal grill, ablaze and ready to fire up the burgers and sliders featured on the downstairs menu.

Upstairs, the cuisine matches the view provided by the glass-walled dining room, where fine dining is Asian-inspired. That means locally sourced pork, meat, fish and cheese, and produce is flavored by lemongrass, Thai bird chile peppers, Szechwan peppercorns or galangal.

Menu items include tiny dumplings prepared in the kitchen's Chinese pantry steamer, a whole bass steamed Hong Kong style — in a bamboo basket over boiling water — Kobe beef served with Chinese hot and sweet mustard, or whole Peking duckling with huckleberries, pea tendril salad and glass noodles.

Mere days before opening, Drewno is unflappable. His cool has been cultivated by Puck since he joined the company in 1998 as a line cook at Las Vegas’ Chinois, as executive sous chef at Spago Beverly Hills, and during a stint as a chef under Jean-George Vongerichten at Vong in New York City. William Washington, former manager at the Willard and the Inn at Little Washington, has recently been hired to take charge of the front of the house.

» The Source, 555 Pennsylvania Ave; NW; 202-637-6100. (Archives-Navy Memorial)

Photo courtesy Amber Pfau