Dish of the Week: Seasonal small plates Where: 2 Amys A large number of D.C. diners will direct you to 2 Amys for the best pizza in town. But I contend that while the pizza is good, the small plates are easily the best things on their menu. Some items, such as the deviled eggs, are a constant, but even more striking are the seasonal items. I still have dreams about a skewer of tempura-battered......

Whether you’re not sure what to serve to surprise guests or you just want a convenient food option after a night of shopping that doesn’t involve dialing out or driving through, there is reason to rejoice this holiday season. A new partnership between DC Central Kitchen, Alexandria-based Cuisine Solutions, and six of the D.C. area’s most celebrated chefs is bringing gourmet holiday meals to the frozen food section of a store near you. The meals......

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......

Central's chef de cuisine Cedric Maupillier (left) and head chef Michel Richard receive the James Beard Award for best new restaurant While reality fans and food enthusiasts have spent the past week anticipating tonight's Top Chef season finale, the James Beard Foundation - the Academy of the food world - spent Sunday night announcing their picks for top chefs and restaurants of 2007. Once again, the D.C.-area's nominees provided a strong showing this year......

Slowly, but surely, Chef José Andrés can now knock-off another television network from his list to appear on; this time Bravo. D.C.'s beloved Andrés will guest judge on tonight's episode of Top Chef, which will feature the fan-favorite "Restaurant Wars" contest, pitting two teams against each other in designing and operating a mini-restaurant. No stranger to conceptualizing, designing and running a plethora of restaurants, Andrés is a befitting choice for judging this season's Restaurant Wars.......

Still of José Andrés and crew at minibar courtesy WETA Local "celebrity" chef groupies and aspiring foodies itching for a glimpse inside their favorite D.C. restaurants' kitchens can get an hour’s worth of behind-the-scenes restaurant dirt (in the figurative, NOT the literal sense) tonight as WETA premieres the latest installment of its local D.C. documentary-style series: The WETA Guide to Fine Dining. The guides, which are produced four times a year, cull together some......

Written by DCist contributor Lauren Jacob Premier D.C. chef José Andrés cuts an imposing figure, both in his culinary prowess and his Tony Soprano-like stature, but if you see him walking down the street, don't be afraid to give him a hearty hello and congratulate him on his new TV series "Made in Spain," which has begun airing on WETA at 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays. We caught up with the gregarious Andrés recently at a......

This post written by DCist contributor, Matt Cordell After watching Jose Andres easily handle Bobby Flay a few weeks ago in Iron Chef "Battle Goat," I expected to suffer the same treatment when I sat down at the newly relocated Oyamel. I prepared to be flayed like Flay. I thought I would be laid low by his ceviche, knocked out by his potables, and rendered dumb by the small plates of D.C.'s undisputed king of......

This post by DCist Food contributor Analiese Bendorf Since their 2005 inceptions, 14th Street, NW establishments Café Saint-Ex and sister restaurant, Bar Pilar, both headed up by Chef Barton Seaver, have been serving up satisfying fare to Washingtonians hungry for a pre-Black Cat bite or low-key weekend brunch. Seaver, as Todd Kliman recently reported, is bidding farewell to Café Saint-Ex and Bar Pilar, but fans of the chef's casual cooking will be able to get......

Walking into the hastily opened Bebo Trattoria in the revitalized and almost pedestrian friendly Crystal Drive area in Crystal City (aka close-in Arlington), I thought: "Hey, this looks just like Oyamel. It's still vertical and orange, but they're serving pasta." When Roberto Donna realized he couldn't stand to be without a kitchen for a few months while Galileo's building is renovated, his pal Jose Andres came to the rescue. Andres wanted to move Oyamel to......

Food incites emotion. Ask a guy to recall his mother’s most delicious dessert or his favorite meal on his last trip to Italy, and he’ll likely have plenty to say. Perhaps because they're food-related, shows on the Food Network conjure similar passions—just read any blog comment on perky Rachael Ray, sultry Giada DeLaurentiis or exuberant Emeril Lagasse. It seems that even when we’re not eating their meals, we often respond to the processes and presentations......

Amid alcohol, music, rain, and a little glam rock style, the 2006 Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington awards -- a/k/a the RAMMYs -- were handed out last night at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Woodley Park. Fabio Trabocchi's Maestro took home the Best Picture equivalent by winning the award for top Fine Dining Restaurant in the D.C. area, while tapas king Jose Andres earned Chef of the Year honors. Among the other victors were......

Across from the new Silver Spring fire station on the southern end of town is a calm, cool oasis of fantastic Middle Eastern food in a dining room fit for kings -- but without a price tag requiring royal-style wealth. Whereas so many Middle Eastern and kabob places around the D.C. area are severely lacking in anything resembling décor, Taste of Jerusalem makes you feel as if you have been swept into another land, where......

Although we find the D.C. area’s Jose Andres-induced tendency toward small plates occasionally irksome, Rabieng has adapted to this trend in a novel way. During Saturday and Sunday brunch, Rabieng showcases its interpretation of Bangkok’s numerous food stall delights on its “Thai Street Food Dim Sum Brunch Menu.” We started off with their Pan Fried Jumbo Chive Dumplings. The outside of each of the two dumplings was appealingly browned and bubbled -- practically volcanic. Beneath......

Perhaps the tapas craze should be put behind us. Why does every restaurant have to focus on "little plates?" That said, we still enjoy those tapas made with an eye on Spanish tradition. Jose Andres first cookbook, Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America, makes it easy for a U.S. cook to make these dishes with what's readily available on our shores. And from the Basque-style stuffed Maryland blue crabs to the Route 11 potato......

It seems as though every week that passes brings the chill a bit closer to our bones. Fall has fully descended on the District and it's even beginning to feel like winter is on its way. For every degree of mercury we lose, our bellies crave a little more richness and a little more flavor to coat our weary bones. Last week's tacos not only reminded us how delightful braised meat dishes can be, but......

You're the mayor. Through both sheer fear and skilled negotiations the City Council and U.S. Congress bow to your every demand. Your city coffers are suddenly flush with millions of dollars in surplus. What do you do? What do you do? In yesterday's Outlook section, the Post toyed with this quasi-realistic scenario and offered a variety of Washingtonians the chance to play God with the reported $300 million budget surplus the District is set to......

Perhaps we should just come out and admit that we have a bit of a crush on Mr. Jose Andres. Jaleo, Zaytinya, Café Atlantico, and the new Oyamel have consistently delivered excellent tapas style dining at a modest expense with a great atmosphere. In his most recent offerings at Oyamel, Andres marches the tapas revolution south to Mexico. Fish tacos, molés, enchiladas and other traditional Mexican mainstays share the stage with sautéed fishes and roasted......