ANNOUNCER: And now “Signature Dish,” a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on “Signature Dish,” we're going a cut above.

(sizzle) We're primed for a beef bonanza, starting with a rare treat.

SCHEYLA: And voila.

This is a steak tartare.

SETH: It's a small plate, but it's packed with flavor and texture.

SCHEYLA: There's a lot of things going on, yeah.

SETH: We'll put a new barbecue spin on an old-time favorite.

JARRAD: That's going to give us that classic, like, Jewish deli truly melt-in-your-mouth texture.

SETH: L'chaim.

JARRAD: L'chaim.

SETH: And where there's smoke, there's fire.

CARLOS: We're going to put a little bit of mezcal.

SETH: Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho Love it.

I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer and DC native, and I love good food.

CHEF: How are you?

SETH: Good to see you.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV at each stop looking for the one thing you just got to try, that signature dish.

Our first red meat rendezvous is happening in Georgetown.

On the corner of Potomac and Prospect Streets, you'll find La Bonne Vache, which for the non-Francophones out there translates as "The Good Cow."

The bistro was opened by the husband and wife team of Ari and Claire Wilder.

With a kitchen now run by Chef Scheyla Acosta, the team first made their mark by taking classic French dishes and reimagining them as burgers.

CLAIRE: It really did start with the steak au poivre burger, turning it as a burger just for fun and just to be more whimsical and approachable.

We have the truffle brie, and then we also have a boeuf bourguignon burger, which has bacon and braised short rib.

It's a meat lover's paradise.

SCHEYLA: As well, we have a big selection of appetizers, classic French taken to another level, and we really focus on bold flavors.

This is a kitchen from scratch.

Everything that we use, it's very high quality from the meats to the vegetables to basically everything.

SETH: La Bonne Vache opened in 2024 in the space previously occupied by the legendary Booeymonger.

ARI: There was so much nostalgia with this space.

Booeymonger's was open for nearly 50 years, but we knew immediately, and we saw it we needed this really small, super cozy, low ceiling beaten up place that looked like it had been here for centuries, which this place still looks like that.

CLAIRE: We did want to be as approachable as possible, not only for students which are a big part of this area, but also for families.

No reservations was a big thing for me.

With three kids of our own, I know for us we're horrible at planning, so deciding to go to a restaurant, there's no way I'm making a reservation on time.

SCHEYLA: From the moment that you walk in, service is really fast, it's very attentive.

Everybody's super friendly.

Also, it's very affordable, which nowadays is very hard to find this type of high-quality experience and not have to break your wallet.

SETH: A unique beverage program complements the steak-filled menu.

ARI: We were confronted with some licensing challenges when we took over the space, and so we kind of embraced some of the limitations with the previous license for Booeymonger's, which was beer and wine.

And that also covers low ABV, so 22% and below roughly for alcohol.

Luckily, unlike hard alcohol, a lot of the cordials and spirits we work with are from France, so we were able to focus on being able to play with all these awesome vermouths and cordials, and aperitifs that we love working with and we actually really love consuming.

CLAIRE: French food for me is kind of like a warm hug, and whether it's winter, summer, fall, spring, it goes with anything.

Luckily for us, DC's a huge Francophile city, and so... ARI: There is a lot of French places in Georgetown.

CLAIRE: There is.

ARI: Like, a lot.

CLAIRE: And there's also, you know, you have the French Embassy super close by.

I feel like opening a restaurant's never easy, but this felt so effortless once we opened our doors.

And the fact that people love it so much just means that much more.

Means we did something right.

SETH: Chef.

SCHEYLA: Hi.

SETH: Good to meet you.

SCHEYLA: Good to meet you.

SETH: I am excited about La Bonne Vache.

I knew just on the name alone there is going to be some good quality steak.

What are you making today?

SCHEYLA: So we're going to be making our steak tartare.

SETH: Ooh, I love steak tartare.

SCHEYLA: Yes, me too.

Actually, when I go out, whenever I see a steak tartare on a menu, I always order it.

It's something so simple to do, but it's also difficult at the same time.

If you go to a restaurant, they have a good steak tartare, that means that the rest of the menu pretty much is going to be solid.

SETH: You know good things are coming up after that.

SCHEYLA: I do, yes.

SETH: And these are one of my favorite kind of shoots because there's no oven, there's no stove, there's no roaring fire.

Just nice and room temperature in here.

SCHEYLA: Yes.

SETH: Now, what kind of steak are you starting with here?

SCHEYLA: It's a New York strip.

We're going to be dicing it into, eh, small cubes, so we're going to start slicing it.

SETH: And by not grinding it up, I guess you'll have a little bit more texture in every bite?

SCHEYLA: Yes, correct.

SETH: And why did you guys go with the New York strip for this?

SCHEYLA: I mean, we tried different cuts at the beginning, and we found that the one that gave us the better results, it wasn't chewy, didn't have a lot of fat made it just perfect for the final result that we wanted.

SETH: And because you're eating raw meat, obviously you want this to be... SCHEYLA: The high quality, yes.

SETH: ...really high quality, right?

SCHEYLA: Yes, it has to be fresh, high quality.

All right, I'm going to start adding all the ingredients.

First, we are going to start with salting the steak.

Then we're going to add some chives, some pickled pearl onions.

This is going to add a little of acidity, very nice and delicate flavor.

SETH: And some pretty color too.

SCHEYLA: Yes.

And then we have some roasted hazelnuts, and now we're going to add the hazelnut vinaigrette.

All right, so once we have all mixed up, then we're going to take the plate.

We're going to start our plating.

A lot of times the steak tartars are a lot of restaurants, they use cookie cutters, and then they stuff it and then the meat doesn't breathe.

You know, so the idea for this dish is to be let ingredients just fall naturally into the plate.

SETH: Nice.

SCHEYLA: All right, so once we have this, we're going to put some truffle alioli.

It's a homemade confit garlic alioli that we make, and then we add truffle oil.

Then we're going to put sunchoke chips.

To make the sunchokes, we slice them in a mandolin and then we deep-fry them as 350 till it's golden.

SETH: So that's going to really give you a nice crunch too.

SCHEYLA: Nutty crunch.

And then we're going to add some watercress leaves into a tartar.

SETH: This is such a pretty little dish SCHEYLA: Yeah.

And very flavorful.

All right, so once we have this, then we're going to microplane a little bit of Parmesan, and voila, this is the steak tartare from La Bonne Vache.

SETH: All right.

I cannot wait to try it.

SCHEYLA: You're going to love it, let's go.

SETH: All right, Chef, Ari, and Claire.

This is a beautiful-looking table, and this is a beautiful-looking dish.

I'm just going to go right for it.

That is just divine.

ARI: Thank you.

CLAIRE: Good job, Chefy.

SETH: There's a richness coming from the hazelnut oil and from the truffle alioli, but it also has a real freshness to it too.

I guess that comes from just sourcing really good quality.

SCHEYLA: Yes.

SETH: And the hazelnuts too, on top of the flavor from the oil, just give it a little bite.

SCHEYLA: I think that the reason why this is a very good tartare is because you have a lot of different things going on besides flavors, textures, and the visuals as well.

But if you're able to take a bite of all of it, You know, I kind of create a kind of very cool experience in your mouth.

SETH: It certainly does.

It's a small plate, but it's packed with flavor and texture.

SCHEYLA: There's a lot of things going on, yeah.

SETH: And speaking of it, I mean, there's just things going on all over the table too.

Ari, I know you're a cocktail guy.

What are we looking at here?

ARI: Yeah, that's our pomme d'or.

That's one of Claire's favorites it's like our golden appletini, comprised primarily of all French aperitifs and fortified wines.

SETH: Well, that's delicious.

Nice floral notes in that drink as well.

CLAIRE: Yeah.

ARI: Yeah, definitely.

CLAIRE: It just stays true to what we're doing here.

So we actually just use all low ABV vermouths, dessert wines, and really cool aperitif spirits.

We have small plates here, so having a small cocktail too, in terms of getting too much booze.

SETH: And there are all these other goodies.

I'm particularly curious about what's right in front of me here, Chef.

SCHEYLA: Those are gougères.

It would be cheese puffs in United States, and we make them with Gruyère cheese, and then we dip them in a paprika cream cheese and paprika oil, and it kind of likes takes one to another level, you see.

SETH: That is both light and somehow decadent, all in one bite.

Wow.

And so many great layers of French flavors too with the Gruyère cheese, and it is really bringing back a lot of memories to step into this space for the first time, for me, since it was Booeymonger.

I was more of a Friendship Heights Booeymonger guy.

But you guys have really captured this kind of, like, low-ceiling homey feel, you know, pretty well, which I think is perfect for a French bistro.

CLAIRE: Thank you.

These ceilings are actually original.

The radiators still work, and it's very warm in the winter.

SETH: Well, from the food to the vibe to the cocktails, this is just the kind of quintessential neighborhood spot that I'm always craving, so I'm so glad you brought it here to Georgetown.

Thank you guys so much.

CLAIRE: Thank you.

SCHEYLA: Thank you.

ARI: Thank you.

It was great to have you.

SETH: I'm heading next to DC's Eckington neighborhood.

Parked in front of Lost Generation Brewing Company is a mobile trailer for Silver and Sons Barbecue.

JARRAD: I grew up in the suburbs of DC, right in Montgomery County.

I grew up Jewish and cooking with my parents and my grandmother and we didn't grow up in, like, a strict kosher household, but, like, culturally Jewish food.

In 2010s, I started working in DC restaurants.

I did a lot of Mediterranean, North African, Middle Eastern cooking.

During the pandemic, the restaurant that I was at had shut down.

I had a son born right before the pandemic started.

I needed something to do to pass some time when he was sleeping.

So I started coming up with a barbecue menu.

I wanted to bring in some of that culturally Jewish cuisine, but then also some of the Mediterranean flavors.

I started up with a tow-behind smoker.

I was just cooking for my friends, my family, the neighborhood.

Soon after the word spread around, and the neighborhood next to mine asked me to come by, and then the local pool asked me to set up shop.

And so it just kind of grew very organically.

And I realized soon after I wanted to keep it mobile, so I wanted to start a food truck.

SETH: After growing his fleet to two trucks, Jarrad opened a brick-and-mortar in Bethesda in early 2025.

JARRAD: As we expand, we get asked a lot if the food trucks are going to stay in operation.

Food trucks are here to stay.

Like, they're not, they're not going anywhere.

They're a part of the identity of Silver and Sons.

The thing about me and barbecue is I've always absolutely loved how rich and smoky brisket and chicken and pulled pork shoulder and all those things can be, but I always thought it was fairly heavy.

I wanted to develop a menu that was a little bit lighter.

The sides is really where we kind of start to focus on that Mediterranean influence.

We work with a lot of vegetables.

We're doing more vinegars and citrus, and herbs, and then bringing in culturally Jewish cuisine like we make fresh challah rolls every day to go with the barbecue.

So we keep that soul of American barbecue, but mix it with new flavor from different cuisines.

SETH: Before heading over to Lost Generation Brewing for some beers and barbecue, I'm first meeting Jarrad at his second truck parked in an out-of-the-way spot on the outskirts of Rockville.

Jarrad.

JARRAD: Seth, how's it going?

SETH: Good to meet you.

JARRAD: Nice to meet you, too.

Welcome.

SETH: I am excited for some barbecue, for some food trucks.

What do you got in the works today?

JARRAD: So what we're going to do today, we're going to make our short rib pastrami sandwich, the signature dish on Silver and Sons menu.

SETH: All right, pastrami sandwich.

Uh, you're speaking my language.

Should we head up onto the truck?

JARRAD: Actually, you know what?

We're doing so much out of this truck.

We had to build a side kitchen.

So let me bring you into our commissary.

I'll show you around.

SETH: Let's do it.

JARRAD: Awesome.

Come on in.

SETH: Oh, wow.

All right, so pastrami, looks like you're starting with a brine here?

JARRAD: Yeah, we're going to get everything made for the brine, and then we're going to pour it over our short rib over here.

SETH: Short ribs.

All right, well, what little I know about pastrami it's normally made with brisket, right?

JARRAD: Yeah, I think most people normally do it with brisket.

Short rib has a lot more intramuscular fat marbling in there.

So that gives the opportunity, I think, for just adding a lot more flavor.

A brine is basically just a tea.

All you're going to do is bring your liquid up to a boil and then let everything steep for a little bit.

So we have some kosher salt, we've got some brown sugar.

So, this is going to be our spice blend.

SETH: Nice.

JARRAD: Uh, just a whole bunch of extra flavor.

We've got crushed garlic.

Want to open it up so you get all of those extra oils into the actual brine itself.

SETH: And you saved a pink ingredient for last.

JARRAD: Yeah.

SETH: Now what is this?

JARRAD: So this is pink curing salt.

It actually has some sodium nitrates in there that's going to help protect the meat from growing any, like, bad bacteria throughout the brining process.

That's actually what's also going to help get that bright red color to the pastrami.

So we're going to let this come up to a boil.

So we're going to take this, we're going to pour it over this ice water, which is really just going to cool it down.

Mix all this together.

All right, so now we're going to pour this right on top of our short rib.

SETH: And then how long are these going to end up brining for?

JARRAD: So these ones I think are probably going to be about seven to nine days.

SETH: Wow, so this is a dish that requires a lot of time and a lot of patience.

JARRAD: Yeah, we're willing to put in that time.

Barbecue's low and slow, so we'll go low and slow before we even go into the smoker.

SETH: After the brine, Jarrad shows me how he makes his mustard barbecue sauce for the pastrami sandwiches, which features a host of ingredients including Dijon and whole grain mustards, wildflower honey, apple cider vinegar, and baharat, a Middle Eastern spice blend.

He then grabs some fully brined short ribs from the walk-in for us to throw on the smoker.

Smells pretty good in here.

JARRAD: This is my favorite room.

SETH: I feel like I could maybe live in this room.

JARRAD: I basically do.

We got our pastrami.

We're going to season it up, and we're going to put it right in our smokers right here.

So this is a fairly classic pastrami rub.

It's just coriander and peppercorns.

We make it a little bit unique by using multiple types of peppercorns.

So we've got black, pink, green, white, and Sichuan peppercorn.

So we're really going to make sure that it sticks and adheres to the short rib itself.

SETH: Yeah, no spot is going uncovered right there.

JARRAD: No, not at all.

And the most flavorful part that you're going to get is going to be that exterior bark.

And so when we slice this, we want to make sure that every bite has the right amount of that spice crust.

SETH: And of all the meats, is pastrami your favorite one to prepare here?

JARRAD: Yeah, it's really hard to pick.

Everything changes on a different day, but I probably eat more pastrami than I do anything else in this place.

All right, so these are ready to go.

Let's get them in the smoker.

SETH: All right.

That never gets old.

JARRAD: Yeah.

Perfect timing.

So you can see these briskets that we have going on here, coming around on the carousel.

These are the lamb shoulders.

So we do a pulled lamb shoulder instead of a pulled pork shoulder.

We do smoked whole chickens.

SETH: The monster ribs coming up here, but guessing beef ribs?

JARRAD: Yes, these are actually a local Roseda Farm baby back beef rib.

SETH: Wow.

So this is kind of like a rotisserie-style smoker.

JARRAD: Yeah.

So this is a rotisserie.

It means that there's not really going to be any hot spots.

Everything is going to cook really nice and even.

SETH: And so really since everything's going at the same temperature, it's just a matter of how long you're keeping each of the different meats in?

JARRAD: Yeah, exactly.

These pastramis and the chickens, they're all really good in that 225 to 250 range.

All right, these are going to be going for roughly four hours, but I have some on the smoker on the truck that are ready if we want to go check on them.

SETH: Oh, I certainly do.

JARRAD: All right, let's do it.

All right, so this is going to be our truck that we're parking at Lost Generation Brewing in Eckinton, Northeast DC.

Come on up, watch your step.

SETH: Oh, man.

We got another smoker here?

JARRAD: We have smokers hiding in every corner you can find.

We keep them on each one of the trucks so that we can actually do some cooking on the trucks.

This one we're getting ready for dinner service tonight.

We've got some brisket and some chicken and some lamb shoulder.

And then right here we've got that pastrami.

SETH: Wow.

Look at that bark.

And what's all that liquid?

JARRAD: So we actually put a little bit of chicken stock in here that we make with all the smoked chicken bones and that's going to give us that, like, classic Jewish deli truly melts-in-your-mouth, like, texture to it.

SETH: All right, I can't take anymore.

I got to try this sandwich.

JARRAD: All right, let's do it.

All right, so Seth, very simple.

Just a couple of items on the sandwich itself so we make sure all the challah bread is going to be served nice and warm.

SETH: Hard not to love challah.

JARRAD: Yes, absolutely.

And you can just see it just falls right apart for you.

SETH: It falling right apart.

Oh, my goodness.

And the color of the pastrami as well.

I guess that's from all the pink salt, all those nitrates?

JARRAD: Yep, absolutely.

SETH: Oh, and you're being nice and generous with your pastrami too.

JARRAD: Oh, yeah.

I don't do dainty portions.

I don't know what that means.

SETH: It's taking every ounce of self-restraint I have not to reach in and just start nibbling on this pastrami right now.

JARRAD: And we're going to put that mustard barbecue sauce all over it.

SETH: Oh, man.

So much mustard.

So much mustard.

All right, I am just ready to dig in here.

JARRAD: Well, hold on.

We got one more ingredient.

We're at Lost Gen Brewery we got to get a couple of their beers.

SETH: Oh, of course.

Beer and barbecue.

JARRAD: Got a dark lager for you and I got a hazy IPA for me.

Both of them are going to go great with this pastrami sandwich.

SETH: All right.

L'chaim.

JARRAD: L'chaim.

All right, how about that pastrami?

SETH: I've been waiting all day for this.

Here we go.

Low and slow.

Going right in.

(giggles) Get out of here with that.

Come on.

That pastrami is outrageous and there was so much of it, I didn't even get a chance to have a bite with some challah, so I'm going right back in for bite number two.

Wow.

I mean that was worth the wait.

The meat is so tender and fatty I guess from all that marbling, but the bark has such a great crust, softness of the challah, and the sauce itself.

Without being overpowering, it's still nice and acidic.

JARRAD: And that's why we did that cider vinegar in there.

So it's not just a mustard sauce.

It's mustard, there's some sweetness, there's some spice, there's some acidity to it.

So it really balances.

That pastrami is so rich, it's so good.

But you need that acidity to really cut through that.

SETH: When I heard about your concept, it sounded like kind of a new sort of novel take on barbecue.

But our people, I mean we've been smoking meats and fish for thousands of years.

I mean there's a lot of history in this bite, right?

JARRAD: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

You know, It started out as a way to just preserve the meat and the fish from going bad.

We're just using it as a way to just inject as much flavor as we possibly can, but at the end of the day, it's also barbecue.

SETH: And I know that food is so woven through different family histories, I know, especially in the Jewish experience.

So I think it's appropriate, Silver and Sons.

I mean, there's a lot of family in these recipes as well, right?

JARRAD: Yeah.

When we got started, I had one son; now I have two.

Arthur joined the family as well, so we're really making it.

SETH: The boys are they taste testers for the operation?

JARRAD: Yeah.

Charles, he's almost five now.

He's approved of everything that's on the menu.

Pastrami, honestly, it's his second favorite.

He goes for the pulled lamb and potatoes.

SETH: I think I'd be a fan of just about anything.

I know we're standing in a food truck, but this has been so much more than a food truck experience.

Thanks, Chef.

JARRAD: Absolutely, thanks for spending the day with us.

SETH: Cheers.

JARRAD: Cheers.

Thank you very much.

Have a great day.

PATRON: Thanks.

You too.

SETH: Our last stop takes us to Mount Vernon Triangle.

We're paying a visit to dLeña, a wood-fired ode to modern Mexican cooking and cocktails.

The mezcal and charcoal-fueled eatery is run by executive chef Carlos Camacho.

CARLOS: I'm from the southeast part of Mexico, born in Cuernavaca Morelos, but my roots completely are from Guerrero.

I was getting in US in '95, started washing dishes, and then started growing and learning this business from a really good mentor.

SETH: dLeña was opened in 2019 by celebrity chef Richard Sandoval.

CARLOS: Eight years ago, I'm start with Richard Sandoval.

He gave me a lot of freedom to execute my ideas, my dishes.

I'm starting bringing out my roots, my flavors, what my mom teach me with my grandma, my aunts, but definitely his knowledge and his experience, that's the essential key.

So in my kitchen, cooking with firewood and charcoal, 100%.

No gas at all.

That's definitely the big enhancement we are trying to give our food.

We have oak, we have mesquite.

So we got a really nice blend of different types of firewood.

Since the firewood and the charcoal was the main thing, we executing a lot of things in front of our guests.

We're cutting the steaks, we're flaming things.

We present smoke, a lot of smoke.

It's very simple.

We're keeping traditional Mexican flavors, traditional Mexican techniques, but we are going to convert those flavors into the nice elevated, and upscale presentations.

SETH: Chef.

CARLOS: Hey, how are you?

SETH: I'm doing great.

CARLOS: Welcome.

SETH: And I am also getting some sort of volcanic blast... CARLOS: Yeah, it's hot.

SETH: ...coming off this fire right here.

We have got quite the steak in front of us.

What are you making today?

CARLOS: We're going to cook our signature dish, which is the 32 ounces Creek Stone Farm tomahawk.

SETH: Chef, what makes this a tomahawk steak?

CARLOS: So the tomahawk steak, it's technically a ribeye.

If you take the bone off, that's going to be a ribeye.

If you cut the bone a little bit, it's going to be cowboy steak.

If you use the ribeye with this long bone, that's going to be the tomahawk.

SETH: Got it.

All right.

So this is the what makes it a weapon.

CARLOS: Exactly.

SETH: And like any good ribeye, I see a lot of good marbling right here in the meat.

CARLOS: Exactly.

So that's what is making the difference because as much marbling you see on a piece of a steak, there's as much rich in flavor and texture it will be.

SETH: So, because this is cooking with wood fire, you're going to be cooking this steak right over these embers here?

CARLOS: Exactly.

We're going to use one of the firewoods oven.

So we're going to season it really well because it's a really thick cut.

This is just a blend of sea salt, black salt and smoked salt.

So we have to make sure there's a good amount of pepper.

SETH: Yeah, I can't get over just how thick of a cut of steak this is right here.

CARLOS: Yeah.

Believe it or not, this is this firewood oven, it's making really good job cooking this cuts.

What's your preferred temperature?

SETH: I'm a medium rare kind of guy.

CARLOS: Oh, medium rare.

This is going to be ready in around 10 minutes.

SETH: All right, let's do it.

CARLOS: I'm going to start cooking this nice and beautiful piece of meat.

SETH: All right, so we got some more wood up inside.

CARLOS: Yeah, so that's only firewood with oven, 600 degrees.

So basically the ratio on the firewood and charcoal, that's 60% charcoal, 40% firewood.

SETH: Got it.

CARLOS: Why?

Because if I do only firewood, the protein is going to get sour and it's going to taste real intense, so we don't want that.

SETH: And so 600 degrees, I mean you're going to be able to get a sear and a crust on this that I'm not going to be able to get in my home oven.

CARLOS: No, definitely not.

So we're going to pull this a little bit.

SETH: And cooking with fire, I mean you're not setting a button for 600 degrees and saying that's it.

I mean you have to be staying right on top of this thing the whole time, right?

CARLOS: Yeah, definitely.

You have to feed the fire very often, giving some firewood, giving some charcoal.

SETH: And then maybe take a little break in the walk-in freezer just to get your body back to regular temperature.

CARLOS: Not really.

We don't really have a time for that.

SETH: Take a cold shower when you get home.

CARLOS: Yeah, this is the lava hot stone.

We just put the stone into the firewood oven too because that's what we're going to use to serve it to the guests.

SETH: Ah, okay, so you want that to be nice and hot when the steak goes on.

CARLOS: Exactly, nice and hot because we're going to set a couple things on top.

All right, so we're going to close this because we really want the steak to absorb all the flavors, all the smoke, and all the heat.

So... SETH: Beautiful.

CARLOS: We're going to have this cook for a few more minutes.

I'm going to pull the lava stone out of the oven.

Then we're going to take the tomahawk out and we're going to set on top of the stone.

On top of that, we're going to finish with a bone marrow butter and some herbs like sage, rosemary, and thyme.

Then we're going to take it to the table for the tableside presentation.

SETH: All right, Chef.

I was already excited in the kitchen, but it looks like the show is about to go on.

CARLOS: Definitely.

So we're going to have put a little bit of mezcal.

SETH: A little bit.

CARLOS: A little bit.

SETH: Just a dash.

CARLOS: Just a little bit.

SETH: Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho Love it.

CARLOS: You have to make sure the flame is getting in between the herbs because we want the flame to reach the butter.

Let's put a little bit more.

How about that?

SETH: Why not, why not?

And of course, the aroma that I can already pick up from it.

CARLOS: You can fill in the whole room.

SETH: You can see it.

You can hear it and you can smell it.

CARLOS: Yes, definitely.

See the bone marrow butter, let's just spread a little bit.

So we're going to cut this.

We're going to put the bone right here.

SETH: And I can see it's a nice medium rare in there.

CARLOS: I know that's what you like, right?

A lot of times we recommend the guest to keep in the stone just to see.

Probably one of your guests doesn't like that temperature, and we can just leave it on the stone for a little bit, and we can continue in cooking until what the guests desire.

SETH: Well, I'm not going to be waiting around today, Chef.

I'm getting right to it.

CARLOS: So let's just spread a little bit of lemon.

SETH: Beautiful.

CARLOS: Add a little bit of chimichurri.

Do you like chimichurri?

SETH: I sure do, Chef.

CARLOS: A little bit, salt.

That's smoked salt and regular sea salt.

SETH: So we got lots of flavor and lots of smoke, too.

CARLOS: All right.

So let's start with this.

SETH: Wow, Chef.

CARLOS: Provecho.

SETH: Of course, let's do it.

Knife goes right through.

CARLOS: How's that?

SETH: That is flawless.

CARLOS: Also, you can feel the acidity a little bit from the chimichurri.

Some... SETH: Well, there's a nice little acidity coming from that, from the charred lemon as well.

And I love, too, that you've got that great sear on the outside, nice and crisp and smoky.

But the inside's still so flavorful, so juicy.

CARLOS: And think about, it's really hard to give a nice flavor to this cut because usually a tomahawk is very thick.

It's kind of hard to get flavors inside on the cut.

But since we have this firewood oven, and since we have this stone, since we have the mezcal and the herbs and the torch, it's definitely giving what the guests need.

SETH: Yeah, and what I needed was some smoky flavor, and I got it in droves.

And it's amazing to me how much I've seen people's understanding of Mexican food change even the last 10, 15 years.

People seem to really be ready for these more modern Mexican flavors.

CARLOS: So when we opened this restaurant, definitely the idea is to bring something new to the city.

One of the biggest achievements we are looking for here is to have people to enjoy our cuisine.

In this case, we put all together smoke, we put traditional ingredients, traditional techniques, and this is the results.

SETH: Well, chef, there's steak and then there's steak.

And this was really one of a kind.

I can't wait to come back and try it again.

Thank you so much.

CARLOS: Thank you very much.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: To find out more about great food in the Washington metro area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.