For anyone who has followed the path of Chef Roberto Donna, today's WaPo story by Tim Carman about Donna's extensive financial management issues should come as no surprise. more ›

Whether you call him a nine-lived cat, steadfast elephant or indestructible cockroach, this week's latest blow to D.C. chef Roberto Donna may send him to the abattoir. Chief U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled Friday that Donna must pay nearly $527,000 to 12 former employees over unpaid wages, attorney fees and damages. Judge Lamberth found that Donna and his companies failed to pay overtime and minimum wage requirements, misstated worked hours, and rarely paid workers -- mostly waiters and bussers -- completely or in a timely manner. In all, Donna was found personally liable for paying restitution to his former employees from Galileo and Bebo Trattoria, both having closed in 2006 and 2009 respectively. More of the not-so-sexy details, unless you're a tax lawyer, can be found in the WaPo piece summarizing the 46-page ruling. more ›

DCist is planning on heading up to the Field School on Foxhall Road this evening to listen to a mayoral debate between Adrian Fenty, Vincent Gray and Leo Alexander hosted by the Palisades Citizens Association. Getting there, however, will require hiking through a forested ravine in severe thunderstorms. Fun! (Martin, come pick me up!) We'd tell you to go home already, but since it's raining, you may be camped out at the office. more ›

In September, we reported on a new partnership between DC Central Kitchen, Alexandria-based Cuisine Solutions, and six local chefs to create frozen meals from locally-sourced products with proceeds from sales benefiting DCCK. A number of local retailers have since signed on to participate and will be carrying the meals. more ›

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 will be produced with all local ingredients and all proceeds will benefit DC Central Kitchen, which provides hunger relief and training programs for the D.C. community. more ›

Clockwise from top left: Comet Ping Pong, Red Rocks, 2 Amys, Bebo There are many factors that affect a pizza. The type of flour used for the dough. The temperature of the oven. The quality of the toppings. The skill and hands of the maker of the dough. The vigilance of the pizzaiolo (the person manning the oven). D.C. may not be known as much of a pizza town, but a few of the... more ›

Capitol Hill is finally moving up in the District’s hierarchy of Places to Eat, and Locanda is helping the neighborhood make that move with its adventures in noodles. Not since the long-gone days of Roberto Donna’s Il Radicchio has Pennsylvania Avenue seen pasta this perfectly cooked. Filled with ricotta and asparagus, braised leeks and cheeses or whatever else chef Brian Barszcz (an Oblelisk and Tallula alum) wants to stuff them with, count me in for... more ›

The Secret Ingredient: Flaxseed Iron Chef is combing through the restaurant ranks here in Washington once again, this timing tapping Agraria's chef, Ricky Moore, for America's culinary entertainment. Following in the footsteps of D.C. chefs José Andrés, Morou, and Roberto Donna, Moore will be strutting into the kitchen stadium in the near future in an attempt to assert Washington's dominance in the field of one-hour off-the-cuff television cooking. The Washingtonian has an exclusive interview with... more ›

Food and Wine has released their list of best new chefs for 2007, and Komi's chef Johnny Monis has made the cut. Focusing on "modest, low-key restaurants" and chefs who are "obsessed with ingredients," Food and Wine selected ten chefs from across the country who are steadily climbing the vertical food tower of greatness. Well, ten chefs other than Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee, who they somehow managed not to name five times each. more ›

It's hard to know where to start this week, given all the news in Washington's food world. Chef changes, award nominations, scandals, and battles have enveloped us without us even noticing. Let's dig right in, juicy stuff first. Review Not, that Ye be Not Reviewed A couple weeks back we told you about a fight between New York Times critic Frank Bruni and restaurateur Jeffery Chodorow. Now, close your eyes, replace Frank Bruni with a... more ›

Written by DCist Contributors Gayle S. Putrich and Mike Roscoe Awards season: long gone in Hollywood; just getting started for D.C.'s restaurants. If you don't believe us, just ask Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve, Eamonn's, and the forthcoming Majestic. Armstrong has been named a contender for two awards in as many days: Best Mid-Atlantic Chef from the James Beard Foundation on Monday and now Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.... more ›

>> There's no doubt that we're relieved that the Metro passenger who was struck by the outbound Blue train at Rosslyn this morning did not sustain serious injury. But, we can't stress this enough, people —don't crowd the edge of theplatform! We'd like to keep all of you around. [Washington Post] >> That said, let's be glad we seem to be made of sterner stuff than New York State Senator Carl Kruger, who'd like to... more ›

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... more ›

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 featured last week), was transformed into a spicy ragú with escargot and yogurt foam by Lacoste, but Donna's soup (the ingredients of which I couldn't catch, the sound was horrible) "reigned supreme" as they say. more ›

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, and Boston's Ken Oringer -- a pilgrim from that city's Clio -- will take to the International Trade Center for the third-annual benefit for D.C. Central Kitchen, and it promises to be smoking hot! more ›

Take advantage of the final days of summer by treating yourself to a pork sandwich and side of broccoli rabe at the Galileo Grill this Tuesday and Wednesday between 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Chef Roberto Donna will also feature pork sausage or chicken sandwiches, cold carrot and tomato soup, and an onion, pancetta, and cheese quiche. As fall nears and the restaurant prepares to close for renovations, this may be your last chance to indulge in one of the city’s most delicious lunch options. more ›

Washington chefs fell to 1-2 in Iron Chef America competitions, as Bobby Flay defeated the uni-monikered Morou in Battle Frozen Peas last night on the Food Network show -- two months after Galileo's Roberto Donna avenged his own loss to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Morou -- the former Signatures chef who had earned the right to take on an Iron Chef when he topped former 1789 chef Ris Lacoste and Tosca's Cesare Lanfranconi in the... more ›

International Wine and Food Festival Those of you who intend to hit the 7th Annual Washington D.C. Wine & Food Festival this Saturday and Sunday at the Omni Shoreham may want to come up with a strategy before you arrive. With 1,200 wines from more than 280 wineries to sample and chef appearances aplenty, walking in will be like stopping by Target or Wegman’s without a list, just to pick up a few things.... more ›

This week saw the official introduction of our newest service to make all of our social lives that much easier -- Last Call. For those of you that missed the news, our tech guru Tom Lee has set up a system through which you can check Metro arrival times, movies, weather and open tables at area restaurants by simply sending us a text message with your query. We're working to iron out any hiccups, so... more ›

Redskins-Cowboys. Ali-Frazier. Potter-Voldemort. Morimoto-Donna? more ›

Rumor Mill Grinding Up There may be changes afoot where the West End, Foggy Bottom, and Downtown meet. In the midst of this vortex, Smith Properties is redoing the office building that houses a law firm, a Bank of America, a cell phone store, and—most importantly—Galileo Restaurant. Galileo?! Duhn Duhnh Duhhhhhhhhn. The building itself at 2101 L St. NW is coming down, but what of the best Italian restaurant in the District? What of local... more ›

Today show tomorrow morning. NBC has shipped the Torino native and Galileo owner across the Pond to showcase local cuisine during the Olympics. Donna will appear as needed on Today as well as on other NBC affiliates. Check out NBC4 on Wednesday at 5 p.m. for another glimpse. more ›

Thanks to a DCist reader, we bring you more info on another worthy fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, this one taking place on September 12. Please keep directing information our way, and we'll keep posting it. more ›

Have you had a chance to eat at Galileo? No, not the lunch grill -- the real deal, inside? Well, if fear of breaking the bank has made dining at Galileo a tad difficult for you, Roberto Donna has decided to make the decision easier: for the rest of the summer, food and wine in the main Galileo dining room (not the Lab or the Osteria) will be half price on Sunday evenings and for both lunch and dinner Mondays and Tuesdays. The occasion? We chalk it up to the normally slow summer months, when tourists flock to familiar favorites like Bertuccis (wonder why Restaurant Week is when it is?), as well as the stated reason that Donna wishes to show diners his new menu. more ›

Long Lines Reported at Galileo more ›

Clicking on our television, we channel surfed our way over to the Food Network, where local chef Roberto Donna, proprietor of D.C. high-end Italian restaurant Galileo, would be taking up the Iron Chef America challenge against Masaharu Morimoto. Though we would have been psyched for an Iron Chef Mario Batali-Donna-all-Italian throwdown, we settled in for an evening of what we assumed would be a well-matched competition. Galileo is, after all, apparently one of the top... more ›

The newest version of the Japanese hit show Iron Chef has received some mixed reviews, but local fans of the show's American incarnation have special reason to tune in to the Food Network this Sunday at 9 p.m.: D.C.'s own Roberto Donna will take on Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in a cross-cultural battle that pits the authentic Italian cuisine of Donna against the Japanese fusion of Morimoto in a culinary fight to the finish. more ›

If you're looking for an entertaining (and appetizing) respite to the inevitable Inauguration hoopla we'll be dealing with next week, DCist suggests venturing down to Northern Virginia to see culinary hero Alton Brown sign copies of his new book "I'm Just Here for More Food". Brown, host of Food Network's Good Eats, will be signing copies at Barnes & Noble in Arlington at noon Tuesday and at Borders in Tysons Corner at 7:30 p.m. For our Baltimore readers, he'll also be at the Barnes & Noble in White Marsh at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. more ›

Add Masaharu Morimoto to the list of renowned chefs coming to the D.C. area. As part of Tysons Corner's Fall 2005 expansion, the Iron Chef will bring a new concept, an upscale Asian-Fusion restaurant called Pauli Moto's Asian Bistro, to the expansion wing of the mall. Other tenants will include the area's only Oakley store, a new Urban Outfitters and a Famous Famiglia. more ›

Although the Post might be stuck on the line at Potbelly's at L and 19th streets NW, those lucky enough to work in the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (what we like to refer to as the 'axis of nonprofit power') know the area has plenty of interesting lunch options if you look beyond the big fast food chains. more ›