Best Bites Blog

Licking the Competition

Some parents do pirouettes searching for a healthy snack their kids will eat. So we asked a group of seven- and eight-year-old girls—all students at local Ballet Petite studios—to sample frozen fruit bars and Popsicles, most of which were made with real fruit and were low in calories.

Barry Koslow Tours the Arlington Farmers Market

In our video tour, the newly appointed Tallula chef explains everything from beets to berries, plus gives his recipes for make-at-home pickles and grilled ratatouille.

Why, yes, that is the smell of summer’s first peaches wafting in the air. What else is in season? We hit the Arlington Farmers Market (N. Courthouse Rd. and N. 14th St.; Saturday 8 to noon) with Tallula and EatBar chef Barry Koslow to find out. He gave us some tips on cooking collard greens, frying green tomatoes, using garlic scapes, and pickling cucumbers. Watch the videos for his advice on everything from beets to berries. Hungry yet? Try Koslow’s recipes for market-fresh pickles and ratatouille.

Get recipes and another video, chock full of more tips, below.

Todd Twitters Opening Night at J&G Steakhouse

J&G Steakhouse (515 15th St., NW; 202-661-2440), superstar chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s more-than-just-steaks restaurant, bowed last night at the W Washington D.C., a new hotel adjacent to the Willard InterContinental and now officially the closest lodging to the White House.

Amid the throng of curiosity seekers, Washingtonian food and wine editor Todd Kliman dropped in to sample the wares at the 26th restaurant in Vongerichten’s multinational empire, and tweet his first impressions. The transcript is below.

Three for Washington on Top Chef

Bravo just posted the cheftestant bios for its hit cooking competition/Glad ad Top Chef, and there are not one but three players with Washington ties. That’s big for a show that in all its seasons has given us only caterer Carla Hall to root for as a hometown prospect. (Spike Mendelsohn was living in New York during his stint on the show.) And Bravo’s thrown in another twist of novelty: Two of those three are brothers. There’s Bryan Voltaggio, longtime chef de cuisine at Charlie Palmer Steak, now chef/owner of the Frederick destination restaurant Volt, and little bro Michael Voltaggio, who impressed as chef at the Greenbrier’s Hemisphere and is now chef de cuisine at José Andrés’s many-starred Los Angeles restaurant, Bazaar. Also competing is Mike Isabella, chef de cuisine at another Andrés restaurant, DC’s Zaytinya.

Recipe Sleuth: Zengo’s XO Edamame

The XO edamame appetizer at Latin/Asian fusion restaurant Zengo has a cult-like following. The name is a play on X.O. grade Cognac, the oldest and highest grade. According to chef de cuisine Graham Bartlett, the rich, coarsely textured sauce is meant to be something “VIP or special.” When hunting for ingredients, keep in mind that the dried shrimp and scallops may be expensive and difficult to find. Look to Asian grocery stores or the Florida Avenue Market (Fourth St. and Florida Ave., NW), where Bartlett has spotted them. The sauce is best made in large quantities and used as a condiment. (The restaurant makes four gallons at a time—it lasts a month.) In addition to serving the sauce with edamame, Bartlett suggests tossing it with noodles or putting it on top of baked fish or scrambled eggs. “It’s a great snack,” he says, “And it’ll last forever.”

An Early Look at J&G Steakhouse

Washington has never been short on dark, wood-paneled steakhouses where power players broker deals over porterhouses and sides of creamed spinach. But in recent years, a glossier type of steakhouse has emerged—and each boasts a celebrity chef’s pedigree.

Manhattan-based chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten brings the latest offering. Today he’ll debut J&G Steakhouse in the just-opened W Washington, D.C. hotel. Like Bourbon Steak’s Michael Mina and BLT Steak’s Laurent Tourondel, Vongerichten has a number of different restaurants and concepts in his repertoire, which extends to Shanghai and Bora Bora. There’s already a J&G Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona, and another will open this summer in Mexico City.

Chefs Take on the Brown-Bag Lunch

Looking to save some cash? Here’s a suggestion: Bring your lunch. But that doesn’t have to mean Fluffernutter on Wonder Bread. We asked a few chefs for value-driven recipes for sandwich lovers, vegetarians, carbo loaders, health nuts, and sweet tooths. Here are four cheap ways to make your turkey-sandwich-toting office mates jealous.

Chew on This: Where Should the Real World Cast Eat?

Filming of The Real World: Washington DC is under way, and we’re keeping track of cast-member sightings. The seven strangers have recently been spotted taking drunken walks along the Southwest waterfront, hanging at a Fourth of July block party, and brunching at Adams Morgan’s Grill From Ipanema. We’re also expecting them to turn up at J. Paul’s, Old Glory, Paolo’s, Neyla, and Georgia Brown’s (as well as Georgetown bar/restaurant Third Edition)—the parent group of those restaurants, Capital Restaurant Concepts, signed a contract with MTV giving them permission to film in those spots. But where else should the cast members eat? Keep in mind that your suggestions might lead to meals interrupted by film crews and staged drama.

Give us your thoughts in the comments!

Video: Z-Burger’s Burger-Eating Championship

Nothing says “God Bless America” like stuffing your face with hamburgers. In honor of Independence Day, Z-Burger in DC’s Tenleytown hosted its first-ever Burger Eating Championship. Call it shameless self-promotion or good all-American fun, but this contest was not for the weak of stomach. The challenge: Eat as many burgers as possible in ten minutes. The prize: $1,500 cash and $1,500 worth of Z-Burger food (because the one thing you really want after eating a dozen burgers is 375 more). The contest drew 12 eaters from across the country each hoping to get a taste of ketchup-covered victory.

Best of Washington: Farmers Market Finds

One reason we love farmers markets is the serendipity—you never know what fruits and vegetables you’ll come across. Still, it’s nice to have some consistency, so we’ve sussed out a few of the best non-produce offerings.

Bourbon Peaches From Toigo Orchards

Keeping a jar of these firm-fleshed peach halves ($12) on hand means you’ll always have a quick dinner-party-worthy dessert. Serve them over vanilla ice cream or bake them in a cobbler. The slight booziness of the single-barrel bourbon adds depth and a hint of vanilla.

Sold at nine area farmers markets. For a list, visit toigoorchards.com.

Crabcakes From Chris’ Marketplace

Even Marylanders swear by these handmade jumbo lump crabcakes ($9 each for a minimum of four ounces), which Chris Hoge admits are made with a bit of mustard. That’s all he’ll reveal—even to the ambassadors and First Ladies who have asked. Call 866-785-4100 or visit chrismarketplace.com.

Sold at farmers markets in Dupont Circle (1500 block of 20th St., NW, Sunday), Penn Quarter (Eighth St. near E St., NW, Thursday), Foggy Bottom (I St. between New Hampshire Ave. and 24th St., NW, Wednesday), and Falls Church (300 Park Ave., Saturday).

Table to Table: The Week in Food Events

Bastille Day celebrations, an orchard feast under the stars, and the Fringe Festival's "Tactile Dinner."

Monday, July 6
Where in Washington can you find cheap Mexican food and an appreciation of useless knowledge? At 51st State Tavern’s Tacos & Trivia night. Round up the after-work crew for 50-cent shells and $3 Buds while competing for prizes in the bar’s weekly question session. The games begin at 7 PM. Call 202-625-2444 for more information.

Tuesday, July 7
Curious to see DC’s Adams Morgan without the haze of cheap beer and 3 AM jumbo slice? Today is the perfect time—the Adams Morgan Mainstreet Group offers “shop and dine” discounts the first Tuesday of every month. Grab food and drink for two for $25 at participating restaurants such as LeftBank and the Grill From Ipanema, then spend of the rest of the evening strolling through stores such as Meeps Vintage for 10 to 30 percent off select items. Visit adamsmorgannow.com for more information.

Recipe Sleuth: Harry’s Tap Room’s Roasted-Red-Pepper-and-Crab Soup

The roasted-red-pepper-and-crab soup at Harry Tap Room’s is so popular that the Clarendon restaurant sells gallons of it each day. It’s no wonder then that one of our readers requested the recipe. Executive chef Alex Reyes describes the soup as having a strong red-pepper flavor with a little bit of a kick. For the best results, he suggests searing the peppers instead of just sweating them. He also recommends using non-pasteurized local crabmeat. For his kitchen, he seeks out blue crab from Virginia.

Leave What You Will for This Meal

At a time when everybody’s looking for good dining deals, Karma Kitchen’s one-page menu is a big attraction. It changes almost every week, but the prices don’t: There aren’t any.

Instead of a bill, diners receive a note explaining that their meal is a gift from a previous patron. The only request: Leave what you will to cover the next person’s meal.

Chew on This: Where’s the Best Barbecue?

We’ve got barbecue on the brain. Where's the best?

The combination of summer weather and the upcoming Fourth of July holiday means we’ve got barbecue on the brain. We’re thinking of everything from super-saucy ribs to pulled-pork sandwiches. We need you to tell us: Where’s the best place in Washington to find good barbecue? Let us know in the comments!

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It’s a Long Road From Komi to Marvin

One woman's quest to eat through Washingtonian's 100 Very Best Restaurant List.

Ashley Messick has a thing for lists—even her book club focuses on reading the 100 best novels of all time. So when the 27-year-old Capitol Hill staffer saw The Washingtonian’s 100 Very Best Restaurants in February, a familiar bell went off, and suddenly she was eating—and blogging—her way through the places on the list. From Komi to Marvin is a blog where she shares her experiences through charmingly snarky write-ups and the occasional Food Porn Pic of the Day. (Shrimp toast at Four Sisters, your honor has been compromised.) Over dinner at Eatonville (a new restaurant that’s not on the list) we got to know the woman who’s showing us the love.

Table to Table: The Week in Food Events

An upscale July 4th pig roast, a summer beer tasting, and more in this week’s food event roundup.

Tuesday, June 30
Summer white ales and beer-based cocktails are paired with a beer-flavored entrée and dessert at Belga Café’s monthly beer-tasting event. Starting at 6:30, Belga’s chef and beer sommelier will guide diners through the meal and answer questions about the brews. Reservations recommended. Call 202-544-0100 for more information. $49.

Wednesday, July 1
Five-dollar burgers and half-price wine? Sounds too good to be true, but it’s on every Wednesday during Wine & Dine at Eighteenth & Red in DC’s Adams Morgan. Dinner is served from 5:30 PM to 1:30 AM. No reservations required. Call 202-234-8866 for more details.

How to Make Red Apron’s Hot Dogs

Ever wondered what goes into a hot dog? Nathan Anda of Red Apron shows us how.

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The hot dog has long occupied the same realm as the chicken nugget: Both are mystery meats that taste delicious as long as you don’t know where they come from or what’s in them. But there’s nothing to fear in Red Apron’s kitchen. Nathan Anda, the former chef at Tallula and EatBar, crafts dogs with a non-scary blend of local dry-aged beef and pork fat that’s encased in sheep intestines. Unlike many grocery-store varieties, the hot dogs contain no nitrates or preservatives, but smoked paprika, roasted garlic, and coriander all get added. Anda’s hot dogs are currently sold at Planet Wine (2004 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria; 703-549-3444), the Penn Quarter FreshFarm Market (Thursday 3 to 7 on Eighth St., NW, between D and E sts.), and the Ballston and Crystal City farmers markets (Fridays 11 to 3 in Welburn Square; Tuesdays 3 to 7 on Crystal Dr. between 18th and 20th sts.). Anda works his meat mastery out of the kitchen at Tallula, but he’s currently looking to find Red Apron its own location. A sign he means business: He says he won’t cut his hair until it happens. Watch the video below.

The Wrap-Up: The Week in Food

Every week, we wrap up what food news has been going on in Washington.

• President Barack Obama took his daughters, Malia and Sasha, to get a frosty treat on Saturday at the Dairy Godmother, a shop in Del Ray that specializes in frozen custard. The New York Times reports that the family cut the line to get their serving of the Wisconsin-style dessert, which is lower in calories, fat, and sugar than conventional ice cream. So what did they eat? All of them got vanilla custard; Sasha had hers in a brownie sundae, Malia’s was in a waffle cone, and their dad had hot fudge and almonds on his. The President offered to leave a tip, but shop owner Liz Davis doesn’t allow them. Instead, she sent him home with some of her “puppy pops” for the First Dog, Bo.

• Breadline, the popular sandwich-and-salad lunch spot in downtown DC, was slapped with 19 health-code violations on Monday, which forced the place to close temporarily. The Washington City Paper’s Tim Carman secured a copy of the entire report, a startling piece of evidence that includes such problems as operating with a suspended license and a food slicer with “old food particles present.” The most offensive, though, is probably the health inspector’s discovery of “excessive live fruit fly activity throughout the establishment.” Eek. Carman also got a copy of Thursday’s inspection report, which shows that Breadline cleaned up its act quickly. The document has a list of “standard operating procedures” from the health department, including these two items: “Cold foods must be kept cold” and “Hot foods must be kept hot.”

Cheap Eats Critics' Picks

These dishes stood out among the many we sampled for the 100 Best Bargain Restaurants issue. Check back Monday for the full Cheap Eats guide.

→ See All Cheap Eats Restaurants
→ What is a Cheap Eat?
→ The Best Cheap Eats Dishes
→ Cheap Eats Photo Slideshow
→ Incoming and Outgoing Restaurants

Best . . .

Use of a breakfast staple: Home-style bacon with peppers, onions, and salty black beans at Hong Kong Palace.

Reason to order a salad at a pizza place: Chickpeas with lemon and kaffir lime at Comet Ping Pong.

Bar snack: Tandoori chicken wings at Spice Xing.

Chili high: Karahi, a stir-fry of ginger, garlic, chilies, and tomatoes with chicken or beef at Ravi Kabob House and Ravi Kabob House II.

For fiery-food-phobes: Creamy, gently spiced green curry with shrimp at Amina Thai.

Nod to the West Coast: Shrimp tacos with pineapple salsa, lime sour cream, and yellow rice at Surfside.

Lamb dish: Lamb fateh, tender meat smothered in yogurt and sprinkled with pita chips at Lebanese Butcher & Restaurant.

Southern-inspired sweet: Lemon chess pie at the General Store.

Near-the-Beltway barbecue: Smoky, char-crusted pork ribs smothered in sweet sauce at KBQ Real Barbecue.

Video FeedBack: Kitchen

We set up our cameras outside Kitchen to find out what diners think about the Glover Park hangout.

Is the third time a charm? Glover Park’s Kitchen (2404 Wisconsin Ave., NW; 202-333-3877) recently hired Alex McCoy, the restaurant’s third chef since its January opening. McCoy, a contender on Marco Pierre White’s NBC reality show, The Chopping Block, and former chef at Rugby Cafe in Georgetown, worked his first seven days as executive chef last week. Although several dishes, including lobster macand-cheese and chicken-and-waffles, have recently disappeared from the menu, co-owner Francis “Fritz” Brogan says the concept of the Southern-inspired restaurant will remain the same. We stopped by on Monday’s 25-cent-wings night to ask diners what they think of the new neighborhood hangout.

Recipe Sleuth: BLT Steak’s Chicken-Liver Pâté

When a reader requested the recipe for BLT Steak’s chicken-liver pâté, our food and wine editor, Todd Kliman, confessed he’d like to make it himself. “That pâté is one of the richest, most luxuriant things I’ve ever eaten,” Todd wrote in his Kliman Online chat last week. “I’d rather eat the pâté than the steaks.” The spread is served free at the downtown DC steakhouse alongside toasted ciabatta. The recipe comes from New York-based chef/owner Laurent Tourondel (the “LT” in BLT) and is featured in his cookbook on American bistro cooking.

What We’re Reading: 'Modern Spice'

Northern Virginia writer Monica Bhide gives Indian cooking a fresh spin.

Food writer Monica Bhide has lived around the world, and her new cookbook, Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen (Simon & Schuster, $25), gives readers a peek into her travel diary. Born in New Delhi, Bhide grew up in the Middle East before settling in Northern Virginia. While her childhood memories are scented with the perfume of cardamom and the tang of tamarind, these recipes reflect the needs of a modern cook who’s usually crunched for time.

The book calls itself “inspired Indian,” and indeed many dishes have a subcontinental bent, such as the appetizer section’s delicious peanut tikkis. Tikki means “patty” in Hindi, and Bhide’s pan-fried, bite-size disks of smooth mashed potato are heightened by the sweetness of corn and delicate crunch of crushed peanuts. Drizzled with sweet-and-sour (and store-bought) tamarind chutney, they’re the perfect cocktail snack.

Chew on This: Where Will You Go For a Sandwich While Breadline Is Closed?

The popular downtown DC lunch spot is closed for repairs after a bad report card from a health-code inspection. Where will you lunch while it's out of commission?

Yesterday was an emotional rollercoaster on Washington’s sandwich front: First, we heard that Breadline, the downtown DC bakery and sandwich shop which always boasted long lines, was closing for good. Then we were elated when the Washington Post’s Going Out Gurus told us it was only temporary—the place had some health-code violations it needed to resolve. But Tim Carman of Washington City Paper procured the food safety inspector’s report card. And Breadline failed. Badly.

Where we can get a delicious sandwich until Breadline returns (fingers crossed)? Let us know in the comments!

Table to Table: The Week in Food Events

Meet celebrity chef Eric Ripert, sample Welsh cuisine, and check out the new Eastern Market.

Monday, June 22
The Ballston branch of Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery is putting on a Chef & Brewer dinner on its patio. On the four-course menu is lobster-stuffed mushrooms with a pairing of Mai-Bock; bacon-wrapped shrimp with Smoked Chili Red; a mixed grill of shrimp, onions, and corn served with American Dream IPA; and mixed-berry shortcake with El-Jefe Hefeweizen. A reception starts at 6:30, dinner begins at 7. The dinner is $40 per person, tax and gratuities included. Call 703-516-7688 for reservations.

Tuesday, June 23
Eric Ripert, the three-Michelin-starred chef and frequent Top Chef guest judge, hosts a book-signing event at his DC restaurant, Westend Bistro. He’s celebrating On the Line, a behind-the-scenes look at the development and recipes of his Manhattan restaurant, Le Bernardin. For $160 (not including alcohol), diners can get the Evening With Eric package, which includes a three-course dinner for two, a copy of the book, and an opportunity to meet Ripert. The signing runs from 6:30 to 8; dinner is available 5:30 to 10. Call 202-974-5566 to reserve a copy of the book and RSVP for the signing.

Breadline Closed—For Now

Lunchtime diners were turned away today from the popular bakery/sandwich shop Breadline. Signs posted on the door say “We are making important improvements to our facility in order to ensure the safety of our employees and customers.” A manager said the restaurant was closed at the request of the health department while it makes ceiling and equipment repairs. They hope to reopen Thursday or Friday, and more extensive renovations are planned in the future.

The Wrap-Up: The Week in Food

Roberto Donna is coming back to town, Agraria is getting a new identity, and the owners of Marvin scout out Petworth.

• It’s official: Now that Roberto Donna has closed his Crystal City trattoria, Bebo, he’ll reopen his shuttered downtown dining room, Galileo . . . sort of. The new place, in the old Butterfield 9 space, will be called Galileo III and will have fewer tables than Donna’s old quarters. The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema reports that Donna is also resurrecting Laboratorio del Galileo, a lavish, 12-plus course, open-kitchen dinner served to a small audience of diners. Now the big question is, will he bring back his late and lamented lunchtime sandwich grill? We want pork shoulder!

The Frugal Foodie: Rocklands Barbeque & Grilling Company's John Snedden

When this rainy season ends, you’ll be anxious to light up the grill. That doesn’t mean you have to torch your budget. Rocklands Barbeque & Grilling Company’s John Snedden shows us how to do barbecue for four for less than $15.

John Snedden studies a big package of jalapeños, looks at the rest of the items in his cart, and does a quick tally. Turning to one of the store’s employees, he asks if he can take just half the package. While the employee unwraps and re-wraps the jalapeños, I ask Snedden how he found this market.

We’re standing in the produce aisle of the Panam International Market on 14th Street, Northwest, just north of DC’s Columbia Heights. The market is in a nondescript building and lacks any of the frills of the chain stores. The aisles are tight, the ceiling is low, and the food is jammed onto the shelves. But the selection is surprisingly varied and the prices are phenomenal.

Food, Inc. Reveals What’s Hiding in Your Afternoon Snack

Put the hamburger down. That beef patty? It may have been rinsed with ammonia to kill the E. coli. Those tomatoes? They’re not really red, just genetically modified to look that way. And the ketchup? It’s one of countless products, including batteries and diapers, made with processed corn.

Such are the lessons of Food, Inc., a documentary that arrives in theaters tomorrow. The film, directed by Robert Kenner, breaks down any illusions of red barns and white picket fences and introduces viewers to the multinational corporations that largely control what America eats.

There are scenes depicting chicken houses where chickens have never seen sunlight and feedlots where tightly packed cattle wade through their own feces. But the real focus of the film, featuring The Omnivore’s Dilemma author Michael Pollan and Fast Food Nation’s Eric Schlosser, is the human cost. The food in our pantries is produced cheaply and efficiently, but as an ominous narrator says, “If you knew, you might not want to eat it.”

IM'ing Top Chef Masters

Last night, the second installment of Top Chef Masters pitted four more celebrity chefs against each other: Wiley Dufresne, the mutton-chopped molecular gastronomer behind New York's WD-50; Elizabeth Falkner, the Susan Powter-haired owner of San Francisco's Citizen Cake; Graham Elliott Bowles, a tattooed Chicago chef that calls his cooking style "punk rock"; and Suzanne Tracht, a Los Angeles chef who looks like she's spent some time in Lindsay Lohan's tanning bed. In other words, plenty of fodder for our IM conversation during the show.

Recipe Sleuth: Proof’s Miso-Glazed Sablefish

The miso-glazed sablefish at the Penn Quarter wine bar Proof is so popular that chef Haidar Karoum actually worries about selling too much of it: “It’s like, ‘Enough already! Order something else.’ ”

Nonetheless, the self-proclaimed fish fanatic says sablefish is one of his favorites. His miso-glazed recipe is a take on the classic Japanese preparation of miso with black cod. The miso is sweet and earthy, the sablefish is buttery. Karoum, who uses sustainable wild Alaskan sablefish from wholesale distributor Prime Seafood, says the freshness and quality of the fish is the secret to the dish’s success. “It doesn’t matter what you’re glazing it with,” he says. “The fish is the most important thing.”

Kids Restaurant Week: A Mom’s Report From the Dining Room Trenches

Wondering whether Washington’s inaugural Kids Restaurant Week—which runs through this Sunday—is worth the money and effort? I say “effort” because most parents know that taking a toddler to even a kid-friendly taqueria is tricky. To find out, a friend and I decided to take our two- and three-year-olds to dinner at Mie N Yu in Georgetown.

Chew on This: Where’s the Best Cupcake?

The cupcake trend shows no signs of slowing: Georgetown Cupcake is installing a second location in Bethesda, and Cupcakes Actually recently opened its doors in Fairfax. There are so many options to choose from—who do you think makes the best cupcake? What’s your flavor of choice? Let us know in the comments!

Table to Table: The Week in Food Events

A beer-and-pizza dinner, foodie movie screenings, a Scandinavian cooking class, and more.

Monday, June 15
If you’re an ardent anti-wine snob or just a fan of pizza and beer, the Rogue Brewing Company’s beer dinner at Birreria Paradiso (3282 M St., NW) is the place to be tonight. The four-course dinner will feature pairings with six Rogue brews. The dinner (seatings at 6:30 and 9) is $65 per person. Call 202-337-4936 for more information.

Tuesday, June 16
Capitol Hill cocktail lounge Wisdom (1432 Pennsylvania Ave., SE) will hold a free tasting of Domain de Canton’s ginger liqueur. Take a break from the usual vodka tonic and choose from an assortment of specialty cocktails made with the liqueur all night. The tasting starts at 7:30. Call 202-543-2323 for more information.

The Wrap-Up: The Week in Food

The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema confirmed rumors we’ve been hearing for awhile: Sushi whiz Kaz Okochi, who owns Kaz Sushi Bistro in downtown DC, and Denver-based restaurateur Richard Sandoval, whose empire includes DC’s Zengo and McLean’s Sandia, are coming together to create Masa 14. The Latin/Asian fusion restaurant will occupy 5,000 square feet north of Logan Circle, and the menu will include small plates and specialty cocktails. Latif Guler, owner of Jack’s in DC’s Dupont Circle, will also hold a stake in the venture.

Sietsema also reports that Pesce owner Regine Palladin will move her Dupont Circle fish restaurant down the street to the vacated Montsouris space, where she’ll gain 40 extra seats—she only has 35 now—plus a bar and a bigger kitchen. Palladin will turn the former Pesce into Confit, a small-plates restaurant (concept sound familiar?), which she hopes to open in September. For this newest project, she’s bringing David Craig, who shuttered his eponymous restaurant in Bethesda last year.

How to Make Equinox’s Crabcakes

There’s a special place in our hearts (and stomachs) reserved solely for crabcakes. Lucky for us, crab season is under way. And lucky for you, we have a crabcake recipe. Equinox chef/co-owner Todd Gray, who has a fondness for the Chesapeake delicacy, shows you how to prepare his version in the video below. Get the recipe after the jump.

IM’ing Top Chef Masters

Last night, we sat down and watched the premiere of Top Chef Masters, a Top Chef spinoff featuring world-renowned chefs battling it out in the name of charity. We were so excited about the show that we decided to chat about it in real time with one of our fellow After Hours bloggers. Turns out, a great cause does not necessarily make great television. Here’s what we had to say about the show’s first episode.

FeedBack: Sweetgreen

With biodegradable spoons and menus made of wildflower seeds, the new Dupont Circle location of salad spot Sweetgreen (1512 Connecticut Ave., NW; 202-387-9338) is undeniably, well, green. But just how sweet is it? Can its Sweetflow frozen yogurt take on nearby competitor Tangysweet? How do Sweetgreen’s salads compare with the ones at Chop’t? We asked a recent lunch crowd to give us the skinny.

Recipe Sleuth: Acadiana’s Shrimp and Grits

Is there a restaurant dish you’d love to get the recipe for? We’ll track it down. Today we tackle Acadiana's sumptuous shrimp and grits.

Want to bring some Southern comfort to your kitchen table? At one reader’s request, we tracked down the recipe for the decadent shrimp and grits served at the downtown DC restaurant Acadiana. The recipe, made with Gulf shrimp, Hoppin’ John’s grits, and tasso ham, traces back to Chris Clime, the restaurant’s first chef de cuisine, who now heads the kitchen at sister restaurant PassionFish. He came up with it while working in Charleston, South Carolina, and now the $15 dish is one of the most popular with the lunch crowd.

An Early Look at Zentan (With Menus)

The Donovan House, the sleek boutique hotel on DC’s Thomas Circle, hasn’t had the easiest go of things in the dining department. Originally, its in-house restaurant was to be a Todd English-helmed modern-Asian place called Cha. A few months ago, after repeatedly delayed openings, English pulled out of the project and in came Susur Lee, the chef behind Shang in the Thompson Hotel, the Donovan’s sister property in Manhattan. The candlelit restaurant and lounge—now called Zentan (1155 14th St. NW; 202-737-1200 [ask for the restaurant extension])—opened Monday. The menu offers small plates, sushi, and pan-Asian entrées, including a few hits from Shang such as five-spice slaw and quick-sauté wild garlic shrimp.

Read on for a look at the dining room and lounge plus the dinner menu.

Chew On This: What Are Your Favorite Beach Eats?

Despite the incessant rain and thunderstorms, it’s June, which means we’ve started dreaming of hot summer days on the beach. We want you to tell us where to eat at popular sand-and-surf destinations, such as Rehoboth and Bethany beaches, the Eastern Shore, and the Outer Banks. What are some of your favorite places to hit for a post-body-surfing bite, a boardwalk snack, or a crab feast? Are there any good eats on the way to your vacation destination? Let us know in the comments!

Table to Table: The Week in Food Events

Tuesday, June 9, through Sunday, June 21
Barcelona chef Quim Marquès is guest of honor at Jaleo’s annual Paella Festival. He’s teamed with the restaurant to create a handful of lunch and dinner paellas, including one with lobster and chicken; Catalan-style dirty rice with cuttlefish and squid; and arroz mediterraneo with green and black olives, shrimp, and peas. The sharable paellas range from $35 to $50 and are available at all three Jaleo locations (480 Seventh St., NW, 202-628-7949; 7271 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, 301-913-0003; 2250-A Crystal Dr., Arlington, 703-413-8181). Click here for hours and more information.

Tuesday, June 9
15 Ria chef Janis McLean will lead a class on soft-shell crabs at L’Academie de Cuisine (5021 Wilson La., Bethesda). Participants will make a soft-shell-crab sandwich; soft-shell-crab tempura; stuffed soft shells; corn salad; potato salad; and five-spice slaw. The hands-on class, which costs $85 per person, runs from 7 to 10. Call 301-986-9490 to book a spot. Click here for more.

Rewind: The Rammy Awards

More than 1,400 members of Washington’s restaurant industry packed the Omni Shoreham hotel last night for the annual Rammy awards gala put on by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. Awards are bestowed for everything from bar scene to pastry chef to manager. Which restaurateur sported the coolest clothes? Who were the most surprising presenters and guests? Read on for highlights of the night and the list of winners.

Hey, Kids—It’s Restaurant Week!

Tired of giving your kids chicken fingers and fries off the children’s menu? Check out Kids’ Restaurant Week, scheduled to hit DC June 13 through 21.

Modeled on the popular semiannual Restaurant Week, during which a long list of high-end dining rooms offer prix-fixe, three-course menus at prices based on the year ($20.09 for lunch, $35.09 for dinner), Kids’ Restaurant Week will serve up sophisticated but kid-friendly creations priced according to your child’s age. Eight-year-olds will eat for $8, nine-year-olds for $9, up to age 11. Parents can also score prix-fixe menus for a price still to be determined (don’t worry, your age won’t factor in).

The Wrap-Up: The Week in Food

• Last Saturday, Barack and Michelle Obama flew to New York to see the August Wilson play Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Before the show, they stopped at Blue Hill, the West Village restaurant helmed by Dan Barber, an unofficial spokesman for the local-food movement (many of the ingredients used at his restaurant come from his upstate-New York farm). No word on what the First Couple ate—Barber’s keeping mum on that—although the New York Daily News reports that Barack sipped wine while Michelle had two martinis.

Sugar Rush: Free Doughnuts on National Doughnut Day

Talk about TGIF: Friday is National Doughnut Day (woo!), and several doughnut franchises will be handing out free treats to celebrate. Read on to plan your sugar rush accordingly.

Krispy Kreme
This North Carolina-based chain is offering a free doughnut to every customer on June 5—no purchase is necessary. Here’s a tip: Try to snag one of the piping-hot confections straight off the conveyor belt. The doughnut will almost melt in your mouth.

Locations in Dupont Circle, Alexandria, Rockville, and Columbia.

Dunkin’ Donuts
This old standby is handing out free doughnuts with drink purchases. Mind if we make a suggestion? We love Dunkin’s double-brewed iced coffees. Add a pump of flavor—anything from toasted almond to blueberry—for an extra punch.

Locations in Penn Quarter, Eastern Market, Dupont Circle, Columbia Heights, and more. Click here to find a nearby store.

PS 7’s Peter Smith Tours the Penn Quarter FreshFarm Market

Get out that recycled tote bag—this summer we’re taking our video camera to farmers markets all around Washington. We’ll have local chefs show you around their neighborhood markets, then we’ll give you their shopping and cooking tips about whatever’s in season. For our first installment, we asked PS 7’s chef/owner Peter Smith to take us on a tour of the Penn Quarter FreshFarm market, where he shops every week. Armed with ingredients from local vendors, Smith prepared a grilled cheese with bacon, arugula, and in-season strawberries for a market demo. See how he did it in the video, then try it yourself with the recipe below.

Recipe Sleuth: Blue Duck Tavern’s Sugar Cookies

Is there a restaurant dish you’d love to get the recipe for? We’ll track it down.

The dessert menu at Blue Duck Tavern in DC’s West End is filled with upscale sweets such as hazelnut-Amaretto cheesecake and apricot-toffee bread pudding. But it’s the freshly baked sugar cookies, served in $7 tins of six, that caught one reader’s attention. We tracked down pastry chef Laurent Merdy to find out how you can get your sugar fix from home. Merdy says the cookies were on the menu before he arrived, and he’s tweaked the recipe to give them a chewier center. Now they’re an irreplaceable item on the dessert menu. “We can’t take them out,” Merdy says. “It’s like apple pie. It’s going to be there forever.”

Chew on This: Where's the Best Burger?

It didn’t take long for Barack and Michelle Obama to catch on to one of Washington’s latest food crazes: burgers. Since moving into the neighborhood, they’ve wasted no time in trying some of our homegrown options: Five Guys (both Barack and Michelle ate there); Good Stuff Eatery, where Michelle took her staff; and the venerable Ray’s Hell-Burger, where Barack and Joe Biden treated the press pool to lunch.

In March, EatBar was crowned the best burger in Washington in our NCAA-like burger brackets. Should the Arlington bar/lounge be the next stop for the Obamas? If not, where should they go? Let us know in the comments!

An Early Look at Eatonville

>>Want to know what people think of Eatonville? Check out our Video FeedBack.

Judging by the already-bustling dining room at Eatonville, you can’t have too much of a good thing. So what if Busboys and Poets is right across the street? There are apparently enough gorgeous urban hipsters to populate them both.

The restaurateur behind the two hangouts, Andy Shallal, named and fashioned Busboys and Poets as an homage to poet and writer Langston Hughes. Eatonville, his latest venture, is a love song to Zora Neale Hurston, another Harlem Renaissance writer with DC ties (she attended Howard University). Hurston hailed from Eatonville, Florida, the country’s first incorporated African-American township.

Table to Table: The Week in Food Events

A 'Top Chef' winner comes to town, speed-dating for foodies, a Greek cooking class, and more.

Monday, June 1

Chef’s Best dinner and auction, an annual event to benefit Food & Friends—an organization that delivers food to people with life-threatening illnesses—takes place at the Washington Hilton (1919 Connecticut Ave., NW). Sixty chefs—including Patrick O’Connell of the Inn at Little Washington, Rob Weland of Poste, and Anthony Chittum of Vermilion—will dish out small plates for more than 1,300 guests. There are silent and live auctions for vacations, private dinners, and cooking classes too. Although online sales are closed, tickets are still available at the door for $225. Doors open at 6:30.

In conjunction with its Vietnamese-American Experience series, the Asia Society of Washington hosts Top Chef winner Hung Huynh at Minh’s (2500 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). The event includes a video presentation, tastings of Vietnamese dishes, and a silent auction of Vietnamese art. Tickets, $40 for Asia Society members and $50 for nonmembers, are available here. The event begins at 6:30.