MEET VIENNA
CABOOSE BREWING CO.
RESTAURATEURS:
With a ton of microbreweries to choose from in Northern Virginia, Caboose easily stands out. How? Well, Executive Chef David Rabin gives us his take on elevated authentic Appalachian cuisine, sustainability, and how he and the rest of the team at Caboose pair their offerings with their delicious craft beers - or maybe one of their signature cocktails. Read more...
So your choice for sustainability was not just for the pursuit of a degree?
No – it’s something I’m very passionate about. People take everything for granted. Take an onion for example. If you waste a quarter of it, that's on you – but people don’t realize how long it actually took to grow that one onion – and how much soil it took, sunlight, a person tending it, weeding it – we tend to take it for granted.
Caboose’s motto when we started was “Good Beer, Thoughtful Food” – and that’s was where the owners and I really connected. The food needs to be thoughtful. Our whole thing is that we’re showcasing Virginia. Here at Caboose Tavern we try to embody Appalachian cuisine. To me, what encompasses Virginia culinary history best is the Appalachian trail. That was the original internal spice trade of our country, that’s what the railroad was parallel to, and everyone used that as a point of exploration.
​
What are some of those Appalachian items?
It’s a lot of beans, and potatoes, braising greens, collards, chard, wine berries which are like a variant of a raspberry that are wild, paw paw – which is naturally occurring here – a uniquely flavored fruit that grows from a tree – not commonly used. Also grits, corn. Remember, Virginia was tobacco country for a long time – and tobacco was transported on the railroads, and coal mines – so you have lots of heavy meat dishes, lots of salt and curing, Virginia ham is very popular. We have maple and hickory – not the extent in New England – but definitely hickory. All along the Appalachian Mountain range - Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee – you see a lot of commonalities in ingredients.
​
How does this tie into your personal heritage?
One side of my family is mostly from New York City. My grandmother was from Savannah Georgia, and my grandfather was from Brooklyn. That’s kind of an odd combination – since they grew up during the Great Depression. They both saw two different sides of the same thing – he saw the impact on the city, and she saw the impacts on the country. Even though they were both poor, my grandmother’s side had more, because they had the ability to grow their own food – whereas in New York – my grandfather was relying on soup kitchens to survive.
As a kid my mother got me in to cooking alongside my grandmother. I saw that my grandmother could do all these amazing things with food, and it got passed down to me.
PEOPLE CAN DISSECT IT ALL THEY WANT, AND OVERTHINK IT, PEOPLE LOVE THAT - IF THAT'S THEIR THING, THEN GO FOR IT. BUT SOMETIMES YOU JUST WANT A NICE COLD BEER.
"
Tell us about your personal journey with food.
I always had an interest in cooking since I was younger – I was probably about 10 when I learned how to cook from my parents. I developed a passion for it, but didn’t connect the dots that I could make a living doing it. I grew up in Maryland, and Montgomery County had a VOTECH program that gave me all my basic cooking skills, knife skills, and general technique. Junior year of high school, I picked up some shifts in a restaurant and started working. Then continued into my senior year. I received a partial scholarship to Johnson and Wales after high school, but I didn’t feel like the program challenged me. Maybe that’s partially ego or just naivete. So, I left and took a couple years off, and worked for a few places in the D.C. area before going back to school. I received a professional scholarship to the New England Culinary Institute and did my first internship at Volt in Frederick, MD. After that, I went off to my yearlong internship in San Francisco – Michael Mina – a Michelin star restaurant. After returning to the DMV, I worked at Neighborhood Restaurant Group, then back with Michael Mina at Bourbon Steak, then Charlie Palmer as a Sous Chef in D.C.
Ultimately the opportunity fell in my lap to go be an executive chef, but I was a little too young, and inexperienced, and I kind of fell on my face little bit – but then I ended up at Caboose (for the first time). Caboose was a challenge at first because I was over motivated on the creative side. I knew in theory what I needed to do – but I hadn’t done it at that scale before and had no one to rely on but myself. I bit off a little bit more than I could chew – but I learned from it.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Without that challenge in your journey could you have taken the next step toward success?
Probably not – because without that experience my ego would have inflated. Two weeks after I started at Caboose as a Sous Chef, the Executive Chef became the General Manager. and I became the Chef de Cuisine – which is similar responsibility to an Executive Chef. I did that for a couple years, then left Caboose and went to Brine for another opportunity and started as a Sous Chef there. Within about year I was promoted to Executive Chef. In 2018, the owners of Caboose asked me to come back because they really liked what I was doing when I was at Caboose originally. So, I came back – It was an opportunity to make a name for myself and an opportunity for me to go on the corporate side. I figured that if I stay here for 2, 5, or 10 years, it gives me the opportunity to show my success, and I’ve created my own personal brand. That’s one thing I like about Caboose – I’m able to do that. I can have my own identity that matches well with the restaurant – because the things that are important to me are sustainability and farm to table. I actually recently finished school – finally – it only took me 10 years. I got my bachelors in culinary arts and sustainable practices. Last year, we were able to win the Slow Food Snail of Approval Award for Caboose Tavern – which is an accreditation of a restaurant’s sustainability. About 70 percent of our produce and proteins are from Virginia, Maryland, or Pennsylvania. If we can’t get it local, then its sourced from a responsible farm.
I actually have a little farm at my house – I live 8 miles from Shenandoah, far away from here. We’ve got a little under 10 acres – we’ve got chickens, and we are getting goats this year– we’ve got a bunch of vegetables planted, and some bees. We’re trying to do the whole sustainable thing – and actually live it.
What can you tell me about the beer that might be surprising to your more regular patrons?
The Vanilla Bean Hobo Stout tends to be popular – it makes us unique because we use real vanilla. Stouts are typically characterized as heavy beers, but ours is not as heavy in body as one might imagine in typical contexts. It’s actually more malty and sweeter; the vanilla helps bring out that earthiness. This year we were actually able to throw it in whisky barrels to really enhance the flavor. And I think that vanilla and whisky combo worked really well. It was kind of one of those things that you had this anticipation that it was a heavy body, and a heavy beer, but it was actually super drinkable, and very balanced for a stout. It’s not overly bitter like some darker beers can be.
Also, people forget that beer only has two categories: Lagers and Ales – everything else is an offshoot. And Ales tend to be sweeter – not always, but tend to be.
​
So what is the narrative for the beer purist?
I am a beer purist. I don’t typically like a lot of fancy stuff in my beer. I just want a neutral, easy to drink, beer. I feel like we do that well because we cover our bases with our staples like our Vienna Lager, Fog IPA, Citra, and our Wasser Pilsner – now granted we have a brown ale, and other staples. But those that I mentioned are the major categories that people seek out. We have a solid version of all of them. Then we do offshoots like sours, porters, and all sorts of creative things. But we hit the nail on the head of good simple beer. And I believe that’s a good thing. People can dissect it all they want, people love that, that’s their thing, and go for it. But sometimes you just want a nice cold beer and hang out with friends, and maybe eat a burger.
​
How does the Caboose team come up with beer and food pairings?
It all starts with eating it and drinking it. Typically, I’ll taste the beer, and get a lightbulb moment about what I want to pair with it. We have a team of people – front and back of house - kitchen, sous chefs, cooks, servers, and the beverage director - who will have a beer and get an idea. We have relatively open communication with all that.
​
Being a resident of a rural community in Virginia, what do you think it is that makes Vienna unique?
Vienna has a rich history and is unique because it is a small town a stone’s throw from D.C.
​
Does seeing regulars out of the floor confirm that small town feel?
There are people I see that come several times a week and have been since the place opened. And they still come, hopefully for the food too – but definitely for the beer. And there are at least 10 people that I see on a weekly basis that I’ve seen since day one. I spend time at both restaurants – so I’ve run in to regulars from Tavern over at Commons and vice versa.
​
What else should people know about caboose – are there any other locations coming?
There have been talks of a Caboose #3 –we’re all like “yeah, let’s do this again” – then we look back and we’re like “hmmm, I like sleep.”
​
​
Caboose Brewing Company's Vienna location is called Caboose Tavern and is located at 520 Mill Street NE, Vienna. Visit them Monday - Thursday 4pm - 9:30pm, Friday 12pm - 11pm, Saturday 11am – 11pm, or Sunday 11am - 9:30pm make reservations on their website: CABOOSE TAVERN RESERVATIONS.
VIENNA IS UNIQUE BECAUSE IT WANTS TO BE A SMALL TOWN IN A BIG CITY. AND IT DOES SUCCESSFULLY DO THAT.
"
