Everyone lamented when Gillian Clark pulled her chicken from the menu a few years ago. But now, she is hosting burgers and fried chicken nights on December 11 and January 8 (the second Tuesday of the month). Apparently her chicken is so good that she told Washingtonian, "they’d literally want to pick up a chair and kill someone if we didn’t have it." Her version is served up with collard greens and cornbread.

Michael Landrum announced the return of his fried chicken to the bar menu at Ray's the Classics. This is in addition to a few other seasonal items like lentil soup with spicy lamb sausage and New England clam chowder. Now you can also check RTC out on Sundays 5:30-8:30. A perfect Sunday dinner fix.

All in all, it sounds like a nice way to add some winter hibernation fat. Mmm... fried chicken... must kill... rock star hotel room destruction tendencies in the kitchen. Works for me.

A Tale of Two Tims
A few weeks ago, L.A. Times reporter Leslie Brenner wrote a "diner's bill of rights" about what service in a restaurant should be. Last week, City Paper food writer Tim Carman took her to task for a rather one-sided and admittedly selfish point of view of dining. I can't help but agree, especially with respect to transferring a bar tab to a table; many of my bartender friends have complained about getting the shaft on their tips by doing so.

Commenter "Joe Schmoe" responded with what he saw as a qualification that the "bill of rights" pertained to four or five-star restaurants, and took a shot at Carman, "I guess journalists are not only not required to be able to write, but now don’t have to be able to read, either."

In response, Carman commented with the point that all restaurants regardless of their level face the same "same economic, social, and staffing realities," went on to chastise overpicky diners, and then most noticeably and interestingly dropped the "f-bomb." Lucky for Carman he works for an alterna-rag like City Paper, unlike the unfortunate Tim Page.

Photo courtesy of pengrin

Small Bites
Moving, Shaking and Closing
Yes, I am beating a dead horse with a stick, and I know some of you don't care. But just a reminder that Pedro and Vinny's will be closing November 20, if you want to get in some last minute burrito action.

Asia Nora will be closing to make way for a new hotel called 1 and an attached restaurant called Fabio. Metrocurean reads between the lines and speculates that perhaps Fabio Trabbochi, formerly of Maestro, could make a return.

Farmers' Markets Action
Both the Bloomingdale (Sunday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.) and 14th & U (Saturday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.) farmers' markets will be having their last market days for the year. Stock up on your Thanksgiving supplies like grass range turkeys at U, and Aisha Bond's sweet potato pies and bread pudding. Fill out the rest with produce like collard greens, Yukon gold potatoes, Brussels sprouts, kale, spinach and a whole lot of other stuff.

Dupont Farmers Market will have a "Thanksgiving Feast for the Eyes," an installation featuring a book that was published about Thanksgiving and the Dupont Market.