Dish of the Week: Curry laksa Where: Spices/Nooshi, Malaysia Kopitiam The first time I tasted curry laksa, it was prepared by a Singaporean friend, who I watched cleave piles of dark meat into an enormous stew pot before putting in a number of different spices. What came out was a questionable, murky soup with spicy red oil floating on top. But wow, was it delicious. Curry laksa is one of those beautiful fusion children of......

Anthony Bourdain and José Andrés after a visit to the Penn Quarter farmers market OK, he may not be Brad Pitt or George Clooney, but I'd bet $5 on Anthony Bourdain in a bare-knuckle boxing match. So, if you see him around town this weekend, filming segments for his Travel Channel show, No Reservations, best not tick him off. We spotted Bourdain yesterday afternoon at the weekly Penn Quarter FRESHFARM market, accompanied by new......

DCist spotted this camera crew at 13th and U Streets just now. A producer told us they're filming a promo for The Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations around the U Street area until about 4 p.m. today, and looking for people on the street to appear in the spot. No speaking is required - they're mostly asking people to hold up signs they've made that promote the show. The crew is camped out......

So where does Anthony Bourdain – chef, writer, traveler - spend his night after bumping elbows with six of D.C.’s top chefs? Unsurprisingly, at Ben’s Chili bowl. Keeping true to his inclinations for “adventurous” eating, Anthony Bourdain visited famed Ben’s Chili Bowl Tuesday night after having MC’ed D.C.’s annual Capital Food Fight. “I loved it, it’s the kind of food I like,” responded Bourdain to a question during the Q&A session of his sold-out talk......

>> No Reservations star Anthony Bourdain was reportedly at Ben's Chili Bowl last night, so if you're heading to his reading at GW's Lisner Auditorium tonight, be sure to try to ask him what he thinks of the chili half-smoke. For more information & to check on ticket availability (it's nearly sold-out), call Smithsonian Associates at 202-633-3030. $28, $14 for GW students at the Lisner box office. 7 p.m. >> Philadelphia quintet Dr. Dog......

MONDAY: Jerome Groopman — a New Yorker staff writer, best-selling author and professor at Harvard Medical School — will be at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue to discuss his latest collection of essays, How Doctors Think. If they're like our favorite television doctor, it's probably "What's the best way to humiliate my employees today?" 7 p.m. $6 TUESDAY: Min Jin Lee will be at the Johns Hopkins University-SAIS Bernstein-Offit Building to read from her......

Standing on an elaborate stage in front of a sold-out crowd at Wednesday night's D.C. Food Fight, a surprisingly slight but eminently well-dressed Anthony Bourdain denied Chef Ris Lacoste her third win, instead crowning Roberto Donna as this year's champion. No, a threepeat wasn’t in the cards; Roberto Donna—who Bourdain referred to as "sweaty dude"—eked out two wins in preliminary rounds to barely top Lacoste in the final. The secret ingredient, Romanesco (which we presciently......

D.C. Battles It Out In The Kitchen One of Washington's best food events, the Capital Food Fight, is a little over a week away, and I expect there is wanton smack-talking between the competition's 10 food-fighters. Bebo's Roberto Donna, Mie n Yu's Tim Elliot, Kinkead's Bob Kinkead, last year's winner Ris Lacoste, Jamie Leeds of Hank's Oyster Bar, Taberna del Alabardero's Santi Zabaleta, John Wabeck of Firefly, IndeBleu's Vikram Garg, Anthony Chittum from Notti Bianche,......

In what could be described as either the rebirth of Fear Factor or Anthony Bourdain's dream come true, TasteDC.com -- that hard-hearted harbinger of haggis -- has organized the 1st Annual Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival. Scheduled for Wednesday, October 25 at the Women's National Democratic Club in Dupont Circle's Whittemore House, the festival will spotlight both rare ingredients and seldom seen animal parts that will make you moan with delight or squirm......

Anthony Bourdain defines "food porn" as "the glorification of food as a substitute for sex." As with food porn, wine porn -- to paraphrase Bourdain -- describes certain mind-blowingly hedonistic and expensive wines for an audience that has little intention of actually drinking them. If Wine Spectator and Robert Parker's Wine Advocate are the respective Penthouse and Hustler of wine publications, then the 7th Annual Heart's Delight Wine Tasting and Auction -- running from Thursday,......

When you're pining for vacation travel that's still six weeks away, you have to get creative to avoid lighting something on fire for sheer kicks. I know last week I suggested visiting restaurants and bars that serve your favorite food and drinks to make it through March. But sometimes you'd rather have a little adventure. And for inspiration, you need look no further than Anthony Bourdain. Now, some people rubbernecked through Kitchen Confidential for his......

MONDAY >> Monday welcomes the Fictionista Book Tour to Washington, D.C., featuring readings from Josie Brown (True Hollywood Lies), Kayla Perrin (Gimme an O!) and Stephanie Lessing (She’s Got Issues). Good gravy! All that chicklit in one place? Does it get any better? Oh, people. It does. The event is taking place at the Hard Rock Café -- and that means Aerosmith-themed quesadillas. 999 E. St NW., 7 p.m. TUESDAY >> In her book, Nickel......