Top Chef alumni/restaurateur Spike Mendelson is the subject of a frank interview at Danny Harris' excellent People's District today, in which he calls Washington "a second-tier city." more ›

Airplane food is generally terrible. (Duh.) But flying with Delta Airlines has one culinary highlight: Biscoff cookies, also known by the Dutch as speculoos. The butter cookies are heavily composed of brown sugar with cinnamon and cloves, making for what is best described as a crumbly, super caramelized gingerbread cookie. more ›

Hints of spring -- the later sunsets, the warmer days, the daffodils -- are slowly pulling us out of winter's lull. Spring's vegetables will soon be filling the grocer's shelves as well, including spears of asparagus, the focus of this month's "This is How We Do...". more ›

Zagat Buzz pointed us to their interview with Philadelphia Inquirer food columnist Rick Nichols, where he is asked if Philadelphia is an international food destination. more ›

Today, the James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for their annual awards recognizing the best chefs, restaurants and service in the United States, and several local establishments and chefs made the cut. more ›

Squash comes in so many different varieties and colors that it shouldn't be surprising that you can make such a plethora of dishes out of them. From soups and main courses to bread and desserts, squash could have a place at every meal. Many of the chefs we talked to declared that squash is one of their favorite fall ingredients: butternut and red kuri seem like the top picks in the kitchen right now, but acorn, Kabocha, spaghetti and a few other squash types were also noted. I hope you've eaten lunch already, because the suggestions below will leave your mouth watering. more ›

The District's dining and drinking denizens have reason to toast each other today, after several of them were named as finalists for 2010 James Beard Foundation awards. Not only did a D.C.-area chef or restaurant make it into some of the heavy-hitter categories -- José Andrés for Outstanding Chef of the Year (again!) and Johnny Monis of Komi for Rising Star Chef of the Year (also again!) -- some chefs were honored for the first time. Amanda Cook from CityZen is a finalist for the award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, while others will be competing against their neighbors in the Mid-Atlantic category. more ›

With the opening of The Bazaar in Los Angeles and his Made in Spain cooking show on PBS, José Andrés has been busy building a name for himself on the national scene. All of this culminated today in him being named GQ's Chef of the Year. This article highlights tapas selections that you can find at his D.C. restaurants, including Jaleo, Zaytinya, and Minibar. With Blue Ridge chef Barton Seaver's Chef of the Year award from Esquire, D.C. is really coming out on top this year. Now about that Chef of the Year cage match... more ›