Whether it’s Corduroy's scallops with mushroom and potato puree, 2 Amys' cod fritters, or Restaurant Eve’s mojitos, DCist indulges in good food and drink about town over the holiday season. Among those of us who focus on all things culinary, we also use the holidays to think about what we’d like to cook, where we’d like to eat, and how we’d like others to dazzle us with their kitchen concoctions. With less than a week until Christmas and Hannukah are upon us, we asked the District’s food mavens—restaurant owners, food critics, and industry professionals—what they’re wishing for this holiday season, both for themselves and for our beloved city.

CHARLIE ADLER, Host of TasteDC.com. For himself, Adler covets Good Eats’ Alton Brown’s two most recent DVDs and Mark Bittman’s The Best Recipes in the World. For D.C, Adler wishes for “diners that care more about restaurant food versus service and don’t rant to Tom Sietsema about waiting 45 minutes for a seat on Saturday night!” What’s more, he’d love to see “a decadent chocolate shop in D.C. with confectionery, desserts, and a hands-on chocolatier.” And finally, Adler wants polarizing Cakelove jefe Warren Brown to “take out some butter and focus on flavor!”

DAVE ALEXANDER, Owner of The Brickskeller & RFD Washington. Alexander wants but one simple experience: an invitation to a private dinner with Patrick O’Connell and Thomas Keller.

MONICA BHIDE, Freelance food writer, author of The Everything Indian Cookbook: 300 Tantalizing Recipes – From Sizzling Tandoori Chicken to Fiery Lamb Vindaloo. Like Alexander, Bhide craves posh dining, what with requests for a meal at Michel Richard’s Citronelle, Maestro’s Fabio Trabocchi to be in her kitchen for a day, and “a tamarind margarita at Indique!”

JILL ERBER, Proprietor/Cheeselady of Cheesetique. Le Creuset’s dutch oven. Says Erber, “If we ever have an intruder, it makes a great weapon!” For D.C., she’d wish for a full-service butcher.

KANISHKA GANGOPADHYAY, Food writer emeritus, DCist.com. “I wish the constant yammering comparing D.C. food to N.Y.C./S.F. food would end,” laments Kanishka. “Too often Turnpike Transplants bemoan things like D.C.’s lack of widely available delis while not even trying to give Little Ethiopia a chance. That said, I would love to see more widely available delis—more Breadlines, fewer Quiznos.”

DEAN KAY, Owner of Dino. A piece of culatello—a pork rump roast similar to prosciutto that’s banned by the USDA. “The aromas are stronger, more truffly, and chewier,” says Kay. Among other contraband he’d like is Robiola, a raw milk cheese deemed verboten by the FDA. “Eating pasteurized versions of [meats and cheeses is] like watching a movie with Vaseline smeared on your glasses; you get the gist of it, but all the subtlety is lost.”

TODD KLIMAN, Food writer for The Washingtonian. Kliman would like to see “lusty,” “rusticated dishes” on restaurant menus for the holiday and beyond: sweetbreads, oxtail, tripe, pork belly, short ribs. “It's what smart, ambitious restaurants ought to be doing—reaching back into the past and making connections.” For his city, he’d like to see more “independent, moderately priced restaurants run by passionate, idiosyncratic owners who absolutely burn for what they do,” as well as “a restaurant or two that is willing to risk building itself around a single, all-encompassing theme—an all-peanut butter restaurant, say, or an all-dessert place.”

AMANDA McCLEMENTS, of metrocurean.com. For herself, McClements would like “a giant plate of Komi’s mascarpone stuffed dates.” For D.C., the metrocurean knows her primary wish will be fulfilled when Cowgirl Creamery arrives. “I’d also love a bona fide wine bar with cushy couches, a beautiful roof deck, a menu of amazing snacks and tons of wine by the glass. Is that too much to ask?”

NYCCI NELLIS, of thelistareyouonit.com. A shiitake mushroom log and a Danby Wine Cellar. For her city, she—like Kanishka—wants “A real deli! Corned beef, pastrami, and BAGELS!” Is anyone listening?

DON ROCKWELL, of DonRockwell.com and wine columnist for The Washingtonian. Although we know what happened to Michael Keaton in Multiplicity, “DonRocks” wants a cloning kit “so I could be eating Gillian Clark’s Lilliputian Fried Chicken and a 2 Amys pizza at the exact same moment.” And for the city of Washington, Rockwell “would use that cloning kit on Mark Furstenburg, so people everywhere could have access to good bread.”

JASON STORCH, of DCFoodies.com. Storch puts high-end comfort food on his own wish list with requests for Komi’s suckling pig and homemade donuts and a bottle of Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon. For the District, Storch wishes for a decent Thai chef and good cheesesteak place “like Jim’s or Geno’s in Philly.” Storch’s generosity doesn’t stop there. “I’d maybe send everyone Roberto Donna’s cooking classes,” ruminates Storch. “All you can drink wine and open flames. What more can you ask for?” He also—facetiously, we think—wished for the closing of Lauriol Plaza “to help Washingtonians expand their horizons.”