The Weekly Feed: Looking into the Butter Ball Edition

The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear A Girdle
Hank Stuever posted his annual WaPo Style section list of what's in and out for 2008. He lists Vita Coco, street cart bibimbap, banh mi, tap water, vinho verde, red-wattle sausage, and burrata as in. He also lists wagyu beef as in, and Kobe beef as out. Funnily enough, Kobe beef is to wagyu as champagne is to sparkling wine; a geographically specific version of essentially the same thing. Kobe is the wagyu breed of cow raised in Kobe, the capital of the Japanese prefecture Hyogo. Wagyu of "American Kobe" is the wagyu raised here.

Nonetheless, it's been a big year for D.C. food nerds. We've seen the arrival of big name chefs, eaten tons of pizza (some that tastes "like eating a hot circle of garbage", imbibed tons of Belgian beers, seen big names making casual fare, and lined up for food carts. So what do we see on tap for next year?

Wine bars will continue to be big, but I think that cocktails will become increasingly important. I have it on good authority that we should see at least one really awesome new cocktail-focused place opening up some time this year. And with Tom Brown shaking things up at Cork, I am positive that things will be getting very interesting.

Meat may be a constant, but we're definitely going to see some movement there. Charcuterie has been pretty hot, but most of it has come from outside producers. We'll start seeing it produced from the actual kitchens, instead of ordered from elsewhere. Nathan Anda of EatBar and Tallula has definitely kicked off a great New Year with his flavored bacons, like Old Bay, vanilla, and coffee. And rumor is that two great forces in this city will be coming together to put together some serious charcuterie (blind item!). And if the burger debate weren't hot enough in this town, Fatburger is coming to town. Not to mention upscale burgers have been huge and Eric Ripert's self-proclaimed best burger may have some serious competition later this year.

As for the DCist staff wishlist for 2008, we really want to see a quick transition for Eastern Market, a dumpling bar, noodle bar or solid pho place in the city, izakaya, In-n-Out Burger, White Castle/Crystal burger, Sonic, Jose Andres and Michel Richard keeping their eyes on D.C. and giving us more love, more offal, more Malaysian food, more street carts, more good bar lunch deals, Montreal-style bagels, Chicago deep-dish, and - for all our commenters - true New York-style pizza. As for dreaming on, maybe some sort of Thomas Keller outpost. Anything else to add to the list?

Yummy bread photo from LaTur.